


Casualty Report

by Thursday26



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), race to the edge - Fandom
Genre: Dragon speak, Dragonese, How to Train Your Dragon 2 Spoilers, Other, Post-HTTYD2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-05-15 13:59:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19297183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thursday26/pseuds/Thursday26
Summary: Berk is rebuilding, but the dragons are out of sync. Hiccup is falling apart, but no one can see it, until they see it.A chaptered story exploring the dynamic between dragon and rider, and exploring dragon social structure.Post-HTTYD2. No HTTYD:THW spoilers.#ThursdayFallout26





	1. Berk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sarahenany](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahenany/gifts).



> Hey! I've decided to start posting this because it has been sitting in my WIPs since 2017, far before the movie that must not be named came out! I will be adding characters as new chapters come out! I'm hoping to post once a week, on thursdays (because i'm so clever lol) 
> 
> I'm going to post the first 2 chapters today, but only one chapter per week after this. This story will be essentially characters studies and establishing of my own headcanon and how it applies to the world that DW has created!
> 
> As always, the tag for the work is in the summary! Enjoy!
> 
> EDIT: I did change the title and summary. The twitter tag is still the same and I will continue to try and update on Thursdays. Enjoy!

After the battle with Drago, everything has finally fallen into place. Or seems to.

Everyone on Berk, dragon and human alike, has been working together to rebuild their village. It’s easy to see the pride the new chief takes in how well everyone came together, despite how hard they’re all having to work. The whole village is tired, doing well, but tired. A lot has happened in a short space of time. Everyone has been functioning by snatching a few hours of sleep when they can. Not that Chief Hiccup has been overworking anyone, but everyone seems to not want to stop working. But they could also be working because something still feels wrong. 

It’s been weeks and life is slowly starting to return to a normal routine. And in the normal routine, it’s starting to become apparent that there’s something wrong with the dragons. The people appear to be adjusting well to the changes, but for some reason, the dragons aren’t.

But none of the humans notice, lost as they are in the day-to-day task of rebuilding. Toothless is suffering the worst. After Hiccup’s comforting words and forgiveness during the Bewilderbeast’s attack, Hiccup withdrew into himself, lost in the grief of his father’s death and overwhelming responsibility left in Stoick’s absence, forcing Toothless to shoulder his own inherited duties and crushing guilt alone. Toothless is plagued with nightmares, sometimes waking in the middle of the night mid-screech, forelegs, hind legs, wings, and tail flying out in every direction. He’ll get to his feet and run to the door before he’s fully awake. Cloudjumper will watch Toothless stumble outside from his perch on the roof, needing more space than the house offers. Valka, too, still half-asleep and alone in the house,  sees Toothless rush outside, woken by his screams. Her heart breaks every night because her son will never be home to hear them, never be able to see how his best friend is suffering 

Sleepless, Hiccup wanders the village all night like a ghost, checking on buildings and sleeping villagers, suffocated and comforted by the silence of the village, and Toothless shadows him, unseen and unheard. Toothless owns the night. He blends into the blackness too easily and Hiccup is never aware that Toothless is following him through the dark.

Toothless always comes back with the sun, before Hiccup can get home, pretending he was asleep and acting like nothing happened. Hiccup is too preoccupied to notice, too busy pretending alongside Toothless that everything is okay. He never notices all the yawning Toothless does, a sign that he’s obviously not sleeping. 

And Toothless never relaxes when out in the village anymore. Not that it’s odd: none of  the dragons can seem to relax. Every dragon appears to be cagey, wings twitching like they could take flight at a moment’s notice, but also sticking so close to their Vikings’ sides that they could be welded together. Their eyes are always looking around, to the sky, to the sea, in every direction, almost nervous. And they either flinch away from Toothless or they bow their heads in deference. That clearly doesn’t sit well with Toothless. He always rushes past those dragons, not looking at them. 

To make matters worse, there is a marked difference between the dragons around Berk and the ones that are part of the Riders. None of them dares relax around Toothless, rigid and poised to respond whip-quick to any command Toothless and, by extension, Hiccup, might give. Hookfang and Stormfly embody this, sitting straight up in Toothless’ presence and always averting their eyes respectfully, but still ready at a moment’s notice to follow any order. They are iron or stone, weapons ready to be utilized. And they always listen to Toothless and Hiccup first, much to their riders’ dismay and confusion. Meatlug tries to do the same, but she’s always shaking now in the Night Fury’s presence. She defers to him constantly and is glued to Fishlegs’ side whenever she isn’t around Toothless. 

Barf and Belch are probably the most noticeable when it comes to change. Everyone is used to seeing them full of mischief and whimsy, but those traits are just absent. Ruffnut and Tuffnut swear that their trickster spirit is still there, but there hasn’t been evidence of that for weeks. They aren’t as rigid, but they are still, always waiting for an order. 

The Riders are starting to notice. Or some of them are, but they don’t know how long things have been different, or if they’re that different at all. Talking to one another only brings more questions and uncertainty about the actions of their dragons, as well as the behavior of the dragons outside the Riders. If things have changed, can they be changed back? If something’s been broken, can it be fixed? 

Where do they start?


	2. Snotlout & Hookfang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hookfang talks to Snotlout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DID IT! IT"S STILL THE SAME DAY FOR ME 
> 
> thank you everyone that has already read the first chapter! Hopefully you like this one! BTW i forgot to put in the tags earlier that there is going to be Dragonese in this story!

Snotlout finally gets Hookfang alone. It wasn’t an easy feat: Hookfang has been working very hard so they won’t be alone together, except in the moments when Snotlout was too damned tired to stay awake a second longer. Snotlout doesn’t recall exactly how he was able to get Hookfang alone, he’s been scarily good at keeping them around someone or distracting Snotlout, but he isn’t about to look a gift-yak in the mouth. 

They’ve landed in a secluded part of the forest, far enough from the business of Berk that Snotlout would have a very long walk back by himself if Hookfang decided to leave him behind. Snotlout has gotten permission from Hiccup to start gathering supplies to build his own hut, so they’re out here collecting wood. Thankfully, Hiccup didn’t ask any questions as to why Snotlout wanted his own home, only told Snotlout that he could only start when all the damaged and destroyed houses on Berk were rebuilt. Snotlout has thought long and hard about what he’s going to make his house out of, trying to plan the best way to collect supplies and use them. Strongbark is the best material to build fire-resistant houses out of, and it coincidentally only grows in secluded parts on the island. Only a few of the buildings in Berk are made from Strongbark, the smithy and the chief’s house being the first that come to mind. For the most part, Berk is rebuilt now, only a few small-scale projects left that Snotlout is not needed on, so he’s able to start with collecting everything. He’s going to spend a few hours collecting some Strongbark and drying it out so he can start really building in a few days. 

Although he does have a couple days of collecting under his belt, and although the Strongbark is located in a secluded area, it’s like pulling Nightmare teeth to get Hookfang alone. Before today, they’ve had a Snafflefang from the Ice Nest helping them line up the cut wood into cords and lug it back to Berk (that’s one thing about strongbark, it’s as heavy as it is sturdy). Today, somehow, he managed to get that Snafflefang to be put on another job at the last minute. Again: he’s not sure how he did it, but he did, and now he’s alone with Hookfang. 

Snotlout pretends to prepare for tree felling. He unholsters his axe from his back, the thing too big to fit in a saddlebag, and swings it a few times, like he’s warming up his arms. He scans around the small clearing they’ve started like he’s looking for another tree. They probably don’t need more than three full-grown trees and he should have enough for a nice, if small, house. This goes on for a while, too long. His shoulders are warm, but he doesn’t want to cut down anything today. No, today he wants to talk to Hookfang. “Hey, Hookfang,” he calls over his shoulder. 

He looks and sees Hookfang tense and stand at attention. Hookfang is also farther away than what Snotlout would consider normal.  _ “Command?” _ he rumbles. 

Snotlout doesn’t like that. At all. Hookfang isn’t  _ supposed  _ to listen to him. “What’s wrong with you, Hookfang?” he snaps, harsh. 

Hookfang averts his gaze, head ducking. Snotlout’s stomach drops. He isn’t ducking, he’s  _ bowing _ . When did Hookfang become so…  _ obedient?? _ Something is really wrong here. “Hookfang,” says Snotlout. 

_ “Sorry,” _ Hookfang whispers. 

“Hookfang!” Snotlout yells, moving toward Hookfang, hand outstretched. Something isn’t right here. Hookfang flinches and scrabbles away from Snotlout’s hand. Snotlout stops in place, ice in his veins, hand dropping to his side. His eyes are wide as he watches Hookfang  _ cower _ a few feet away from hm. 

Snotlout is at a loss. What can he do? He’s not good at understanding or helping with feelings and Hookfang looks so  _ scared _ right now. What would Fishlegs do? Or Hiccup? Would they even be able to help Hookfang if they were here? Seeing Hookfang like this is scaring him. Hookfang has always been tough, scary even, never… meek. 

Maybe he should set an example and be honest with Hookfang. Hookfang won’t say anything, bundled up in all that bravado, so Snotlout has to go first. “Hookfang…” he tries. Hookfang won’t look at him. Snotlout swallows. “Fangster…” Hookfang’s eyes snap to him, sitting up a bit to tower over Snotlout, and he grumbles warningly. Snotlout takes it as a win. “You’re,” Snotlout takes a deep breath, more choked up than he expected, “you’re really scaring me. What’s wrong?” 

Hookfang’s eyes widen and he lowers himself a little, so he’s more level with Snotlout. He still looks really tense. “Come on, buddy,” Snotlout urges gently, voice quiet. “It’s just us out here, no one else. I won’t tell a soul.”

Hookfang’s eyes narrow and he looks around, as if to check if Snotlout is right, before looking at him again. There’s something in Hookfang’s face that breaks Snotlout’s heart. It looks equal parts guarded, terrified, and resigned.  _ “Promise?” _ he asks. Snotlout knows that if Hookfang was human, his voice would’ve cracked. 

Snotlout nods, putting his fist over his heart. “I promise,” he vows. 

Hookfang watches him for a few tense moments, as if he’s judging Snotlout’s sincerity with his eyes alone. Normally Snotlout would be offended that Hookfang didn’t believe him, after all he’s making a vow to Hookfang and Vikings don’t break their vows, but Hookfang looks really scared. 

Then Hookfang, once Snotlout is deemed “safe,” it seems, slinks over to Snotlout, carefully and slowly. Snotlout stays still, scared that if he moves an inch, Hookfang will spook. It would almost be amusing if Hookfang didn’t look so scared. When has he ever been scared? When Hookfang is within arm’s reach, he straightens, looking haughtily down at Snotlout (and isn’t that more natural?) and orders,  _ “Sit.” _

Snotlout sits without question. Normally he would complain about being ordered around, but this isn’t the time. He drops to the ground, sitting cross-legged in the grass, and Hookfang puts his head in Snotlout’s lap. 

Snotlout’s hands automatically go up by his ears as his eyes go wide. Hookfang doesn’t  _ cuddle! _ Just as he thinks that, Hookfang’s head shoots up and he fixes Snotlout with a deadly glare.  _ “Tell others and Snotlout burned crisp,”  _ he warns, looking and sounding much more like his normal self. 

“I promise!” Snotlout says quickly, not sure what to expect, hands still in the air. “Not a soul!” His voice may be getting a little squeaky: he has no idea what Hookfang is going to do next and he was not prepared for just how dangerous his glare was. 

Hookfang seems to know that he’s scaring Snotlout (probably through scent) because he continues to glare for a few more seconds, as if to reinforce just how serious his threat is, then relaxes, his head dropping to Snotlout’s lap again. Snotlout is frozen, staring down at Hookfang in shock. What is he supposed to do with his hands? 

Hookfang has an answer for that:  _ “Pet Hookfang,”  _ he snarls. 

Again, Snotlout obeys without a question, one hand going to scratch Hookfang’s chin and the other cupping around the back of his eye-bulbs. He starts massaging them in a way that he knows helps Hookfang relax when he’s tense.  _ “Idiot,”  _ Hookfang mutters as he appears to relax further into Snotlout’s lap. 

Silence falls between them. Snotlout has so many questions and concerns, but he has no idea where to start with this. Maybe Hookfang will know what to do again. Maybe he should let Hookfang talk at his own pace. It’s not like it’s a hardship to sit out here; it is a beautiful day. There isn’t a cloud in the sky, the birds are chirping, and the gentle breeze carries the sound of Snotlout’s fingers scritching over Hookfang’s scales through the air. The air is fresh with the promise of spring. Snotlout can wait as long as Hookfang needs him to. 

When Hookfang speaks, he does so quietly, barely over the sound of the breeze rolling over them.  _ “Hookfang… Hookfang scared,”  _ he admits, tensing up. 

Snotlout knows why Hookfang would feel tense. Any other day, Snotlout would have mocked the fear, since generally some gentle teasing about being scared is usually enough to snap Hookfang past his fear so he can do what needs to be done. That process also works on Snotlout. But Snotlout knows, deep in his bones, deep in his  _ soul _ , that today is not the day. Instead, he asks, “Why are you scared?” He almost wants to cheer that he sounds concerned, curious and caring instead of harsh and mocking. 

Hookfang takes a moment, still tense. He may be a little shocked that Snotlout has decided to go the soft way with this talk, since it is so out of character for them to be soft at all, but he doesn’t mention that. He stays tense when he speaks again.  _ “Scared… scared of Alpha.” _

Snotlout doesn’t understand: the Alpha is gone.  “Alpha?” he echoes, hoping Hookfang will elaborate. 

_ “Alpha strong. Alpha control dragons.”  _ He pauses.  _ “Alpha control Hookfang.” _

Snotlout shakes his head, frowning. “What?” He strokes over some of the spines on the back of Hookfang’s head. “No one can control you! You’re  _ Hookfang!” _

_ “Alpha does,” _ Hookfang responds, subdued. His voice has gotten quieter the longer he’s been talking, so Snotlout has to get Hookfang to tell him what’s going on before he shuts down completely. He racks his brain, trying to understand just who Hookfang could be talking about. Wasn’t the Alpha the Bewilderbeast that Drago brought to Berk? Then it clicks. 

“Are you talking about Toothless?” Snotlout asks, surprised. 

Hookfang nods his head, eyes closing. Snotlout almost wants to laugh. “Toothless?” he asks, failing to contain some of his amusement. “That softie? How could a little Night Fury control a mighty Fire-Scale?” 

He scratches firmly over a place that he knows Hookfang likes. Sure enough, the dragon starts to purr. But it’s cut off quickly, followed by a grumble. He also adjusts his head, so Snotlout’s fingers move.  _ “Alpha now,”  _ Hookfang states, sounding almost defeated. 

“Hooky… Toothless is still the same guy…” he pauses for a second. “...dragon as before.” 

Hookfang snorts.  _ “Humans not-understand.” _

“Then explain it to me,” Snotlout says. “How is Toothless different now? How can a puny Nightwing scare you?” 

He expects the question to at least get a chuckle, but it doesn’t.  _ “Alpha…” _ Hookfang takes a deep breath.  _ “Alpha control dragons. All dragons. Force,”  _ he grunts,  _ “force-will. Hookfang not want force-will.” _

Snotlout’s brow furrows. “Toothless can control you?” 

Hookfang nods, shuddering. Snotlout strokes Hookfang’s head, scratching and petting him in an attempt to soothe him. But it doesn’t seem to help much. “He’s not controlling you now, is he?” 

Hookfang rocks his head back and forth unhappily, a parody of shaking his head. “Has he done it to the other dragons yet?” asks Snotlout.

_ “No,”  _ Hookfang declares, firm.  _ “No dragon want-challenge Alpha.” _

“Challenge?” Snotlout repeats in disbelief. “You can’t go against your alpha at all?” 

_ “Not-obey is Challenge. Challenge is Fight. Loser leave. Or dead,”  _ Hookfang explains choppily and a little flatly.  _ “Hookfang not-want leave. Hookfang not-want dead.” _

“Oh, Hookfang,” Snotlout says, trying to lay himself over Hookfang’s head. It’s a little hard with most of Hookfang’s head in his lap, but he manages to get his chest lying against his head and his arms around him in something like a hug. He can’t do much else: Hookfang has a big head, but he’s going to try his hardest. There’s not a lot Snotlout knows or understands about how dragons work, but he kind of knows the human ones. Maybe he can help. 

“I don’t know much about dragons,” he prefaces, face burning, “but I know humans. Or at least a little bit. Enough.” He clears his throat. “But Hiccup is my new chief.” Hookfang rumbles softly.. “And what I know about chiefs is that they may have the final say about things, but they never make decisions alone. Chiefs have a council to help them. They need people to disagree with them, or they might do something bad without thinking about it. Something that could hurt the village.” Snotlout pauses, wanting that to sink in for a moment. “If Toothless is really as powerful as you say he is, wouldn’t it be best to have dragons that don’t agree all the time? So Toothless can make the best decision for all dragons?” 

_ “Not-same,”  _ Hookfang sighs.  _ “Alpha can force will. Humans not-able force will. Not-same.” _

“Okay,” Snotlout says, trying to think of another angle. Talking about Hiccup has reminded him of something Hiccup mentioned in passing while they were rebuilding. Snotlout didn’t really understand because Hiccup only seemed half-present when he talked to him, but he thinks he has enough information to try another way of talking to Hookfang. “Okay… Hiccup told us that Alphas control all dragons, but there are also Queens? And they control things called nests? Or, that’s what his mom told him.” He sits back and tries to look around so he can look Hookfang in the eye. “Before this whole Alpha business, all the dragons on Berk had to be part of a nest, right?” 

_ “Berk-Nest,”  _ Hookfang confirms with a nod. 

“So who was in charge of ‘Berk-Nest’ before Toothless became the alpha?”

_ “Alpha,”  _ Hookfang grumbles.

“Toothless, right?” Snotlout asks. Hookfang nods. “That’s pretty cool, Hookfang. I didn’t even know about Berk-Nest until you said it. So if Queens or kings or Alphas lead nests, can they force-will?” 

Hookfang snorts.  _ “Yes.” _ He says it in such a way that suggests that Snotlout should feel stupid for even asking such an obvious question. Snotlout doesn’t care about the condescension. Now. Maybe he will later. Now he has a point to make. 

“So,” Snotlout continues, “Toothless was in charge of Berk-Nest for years. For  _ years _ , Hookfang. I didn’t even know there was a nest, or that there was a dragon that led them all. And, looking back, I don’t think Toothless has forced will before, right?” 

Hookfang’s head tilts up and he says thoughtfully,  _ “No. Not-force will.” _

Snotlout scratches Hookfang’s head slowly. “And why would he start now?” 

Hookfang starts trembling, starting to make whining noises and breathing hard.“Whoa, calm down, Hooky,” Snotlout soothes, trying to hold him close again. “Talk to me.”

Hookfang squeezes his eyes shut.  _ “Hookfang scared. Hookfang not-want force-will.”  _ He takes an unsteady breath.  _ “Last force-will… left Little Brother.” _

Snotlout’s eyes go wide. “You have a brother?”

Hookfang laughs and that seems to stop the shaking.  _ “Little Brother Snotlout.” _

“Oh.” Snotlout’s heart stutters. His face flushes and he can’t hold back the smile that spreads across his face, no matter how hard he tries.

Hookfang rolls his eyes at him.  _ “Snotlout slow-understand.” _

“Shut up, Hookfang,” Snotlout says without heat.

Hookfang chuckles, but when he speaks his tone is sobered.  _ “Not-want to leave Little Brother. Scared to lose… family.” _

Snotlout’s heart swells with affection. “Oh, Hookfang.” He drapes himself over Hookfang’s head in that semi-hug again, not caring that he’s acting pretty soft. “We got back to each other. We always will.”

Hookfang shudders.  _ “Want to believe. Last force-will… no-feeling… no family… no-Hookfang.” _

Snotlout’s chest constricts at the admission.  _ Oh gods, _ he thinks in horror,  _ Hookfang lost himself. _

_ “No-will,”  _ the dragon whispers,  _ “to find brother.” _

Snotlout’s hold tightens on Hookfang. “Okay… that is scary, Hooky. That’s really scary. I’m scared too, now,” Snotlout admits, trying to hold Hookfang even closer. He can’t really, being so small in comparison to Hookfang, but he has to try. 

With his confession, Hookfang rumbles, lets out a long breath, and slumps, his weight settling more firmly over Snotlout’s lap. The tension in his body completely leaves him and Snotlout has a moment where he realizes he hasn’t seen his partner relax fully since that day he was mind-controlled by the Bewilderbeast.

Taking a deep breath, Snotlout rubs Hookfang’s scales and tries to rock a little bit, hoping to be soothing. “Hookfang,” he says, voice soft, “you’re always going to be you, even under force-will. And I’m always going to fight to bring you back. Trust me on that?” 

Hookfang scoffs.  _ “Stupid idea.” _

“Yeah,” Snotlout agrees with a soft chuckle. Going against a dragon alpha with his bare hands and a bad attitude probably isn’t the best idea… “But I’m going to protect my big brother.” 

Hookfang’s scales warm on Snotlout’s lap: not like he’s about to flame up, but like he’s happy.  _ “Still stupid,” _ Hookfang grumbles, nuzzling into Snotlout’s stomach.

Snotlout, smartly, does not mention the show of affection. He scratches Hookfang’s head a little harder, drawing a reluctant purr from him. Snotlout wants him to feel safe before broaching the topic of Toothless again. When he does decide to speak, he makes sure to keep his voice soft and curious. “Isn’t Toothless your friend?” 

_ “Alpha solitary. Alone. Always.” _

“Ehhhh, that doesn’t sound like Toothless,” Snotlout says, shrugging and forgetting to keep himself soft. Oh well. “Weren’t you the one who said that Toothless was too human for his own good?” Hookfang grumbles, but doesn’t answer much more than that. Snotlout can hear the seriousness in his own voice when he speaks again. “Humans need community, Hookfang. That’s why one of our biggest punishments is exile, the only worse thing is a dishonorable death.” He has to stop for a second, another thought occurring to him. “Are all the dragons scared like this?” 

Hookfang shrugs, or does what he does that’s like shrugging. It pushes Snotlout over, almost enough to unbalance him.  _ “Maybe. All dragon submit. All dragon Respect.” _

“Okay.” Snotlout can get that, sort of, thinking about how the chief works in Berk. Sure, the chief can’t control their minds, but there is a certain level of submission and definitely a certain level of respect. But then again… It’s all about how a chief decides to  _ use _ that power and respect. “In the entire time you’ve known Toothless, has he ever demanded that you submit to him?”

There’s a couple of tense moments of silence. Snotlout holds his breath, a little worried that maybe it has happened. They don’t know what the dragons do all the time. But then Hookfang shakes his head slowly. 

Snotlout releases the breath he was holding. “Has he ever used the force-will, even when you’ve blatantly disobeyed him?” Hookfang is like him in a lot of ways, and one of those is not blindly submitting to leadership all the time. Hookfang shakes his head faster this time. 

Snotlout nods, taking a moment to think about how he wants to phrase what he wants to say next. He doesn’t understand a lot about dragons, so he doesn’t know if it’s his place to say, but he loves Hookfang. “I don’t think Toothless will start doing that now,” he says, almost whispering. Hookfang doesn’t respond. Snotlout continues, carefully, “From what I see… he looks lonely.” Another stretch of silence. “Like maybe he misses his friends.” 

This time when the silence lengthens between them, Snotlout stays quiet. Snotlout knows that Hookfang needs to think, to think past his fear and see what Snotlout is trying to say. If Snotlout has noticed how Toothless is acting, Hiccup has to have noticed. And he’ll be worrying his face off about the Night Fury. And Snotlout, even though he would never admit it out loud, worries about how that worry would affect Hiccup.

Indirectly, he hopes that this helps Hiccup, but he knows that he’s doing this for Hookfang. Hookfang has never been scared to speak his mind, or disobey a direct order (within reason), and Snotlout misses it. Even though Hookfang’s attitude has resulted in Snotlout learning how to mend his own pants from the amount of times Hookfang has started him on fire in retaliation for being a brat, it’ll be worth it to get that ornery side of Hookfang back. That Hookfang is his big brother, and he misses him.

_ “Hookfang still scared,” _ Hookfang admits, but he doesn’t sound as scared as he was earlier. Snotlout will count it as a win.  _ “Little Brother stay by side?”  _

“Always, Hooky,” Snotlout says without hesitation. Snotlout may have trouble expressing how much he cares for others, but he knows he’d never abandon his family. Never abandon his big brother.

_ “Hookfang… try… try friend-speak with Toothless-Alpha.” _

Snotlout smiles and pets over Hookfang’s scales. “That’s all I ask.”

They fall into silence, relaxing with one another and enjoying the beautiful day around them. Snotlout could just sit here all day relaxing in the sun, although he knows they can’t;  he does have a house to build. But just because there’s work to be done doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy Hookfang’s company for a little while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading! Comments and kudos are always welcome!
> 
> Follow me on [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/_Thursday_26) for more updates! I will see y'all next week!


	3. Fishlegs & Meatlug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mealtug talks to Fishlegs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! it's still Thursday! And I am NOT late!!! haha! so just as promised! the next chapter! hope y'all enjoy! I'm establishing this somewhere about 3 months after the events of HTTYD2. Hope y'all enjoy!

Fishlegs has been busy. 

Everyone’s been busy, but Fishlegs has been putting in extra time trying to help Hiccup establish himself as the leader of Berk. He’s there to offer support and help structure clean up groups and work in any other capacity Hiccup needs him in. it’s not out of any desire to usurp Hiccup’s authority, but sometimes Hiccup flounders, especially in the immediate aftermath of the battle with Drago. But it’s not as bad now. Hiccup is slowly starting to find his footing as the new chief, and Fishlegs is looking forward to the day where all he has to do is just listen to him. Hiccup is so confident and strong in what he’s doing that Fishlegs can only admire it. And now that Hiccup has started to find his bearings, he’s assigned Fishlegs to catalogue and sort the new influx of dragons into Berk.

And that’s been taking a long time.

The new dragons are curious things and don’t sit still long enough for Fishlegs to get an accurate count and they don’t understand Dragonese or Norse, so it’s taken a couple of weeks to collect anything he’s confident enough in to present to Hiccup. He’s making extra sure that his report looks extra professional and clean: this is going to be the first document that he’s giving to the new chief. It may be selfish, but Fishlegs hopes to set a new standard for record-keeping on the island, since most of their historical documents are a mix between half-complete or half-legible. 

Throughout this entire process, Meatlug has followed him, doing everything that she’s asked to do, and has been a huge asset when dealing with the other Boulder Class dragons. She’s been so great to have around. 

Fishlegs was very proud of his report, and was glowing when he handed it in. The response from Hiccup was a little disheartening: he barely skimmed over the first couple of pages with a tired ‘thank you’ before going off to do something else. Fishlegs hoped that Hiccup would geek out a bit with him, but he knows that he’s busy, so he brushed off the interaction and made a note to ask about his report another day. 

That was a few days ago, and Hiccup still seems to be stretched pretty thin, so he’s left Hiccup alone. But that’s not the only thing he notices. It takes a couple days of not being immersed in work to notice that Meatlug is tired. She’s  _ exhausted _ , barely able to keep her eyes open, but she’ll still putter along by his side all day. 

Looking at her, Fishlegs wonders if she’s sleeping at all. His assignment has left him so exhausted that some nights Drago Bludvist himself could break into his house and beat him over the head and he wouldn’t stir. He never thought to check to see if Meatlug was getting any sleep, she’s always up before him, but now that he thinks about it, she’s usually asleep before he is. And she used to nap all the time. He can’t remember the last time he saw her napping. 

Fishlegs made a request for a day off, which Hiccup granted without needing any more information. He thanked Fishlegs for his report, complimenting him on how well it was constructed and saying that it showed how hard he worked. A few days ago, a compliment like that would have thrilled Fishlegs, but all he could focus on was how big the bags under Hiccup’s eyes had gotten. Hiccup left before Fishlegs could ask him how he was doing. 

He can worry about Hiccup another day, though.Today he intends to spend the whole day off resting his precious princess. She can hardly walk in a straight line. He’s rested… or rested enough that he doesn’t need a nap, but Meatlug obviously does, so he takes her home. He can read or write or something while she sleeps, but he knows that he can’t have her trailing after him anymore. She needs to rest. 

In his room, Meatlug collapses in a corner, but keeps her eyes on Fishlegs, who has set up at his desk. He turns to his notebooks, thinking that Meatlug will fall asleep if he leaves her alone, but he can still feel her eyes on him minutes later. When he looks at her, she seems to be fighting sleep, her head nodding off to either side, but jerking back up with a headshake. “Meatlug, get some rest,” Fishlegs says kindly. “You deserve it.” 

She shakes her head.  _ “Not-sleep.”  _

Fishlegs frowns. “Not-sleep?” he echoes. “What do you mean not-sleep? Have you not slept at all?” 

_ “Not…”  _ She yawns hugely.  _ “Not-want sleep.” _

Fishlegs is on his feet immediately and he rushes to his friend. “You don’t want to sleep?! Are you okay? Are you feeling sick? Should we go to Gothi? Should I get Hiccup?” He runs his hands over her head and neck, checking for anything amiss. The first thing he notices is that he’s left the saddle on her. She normally sleeps with it on, but maybe it’s uncomfortable? 

He reaches for the strap to take it off, but she moves away from his hand.  _ “No. Leave.” _

“Leave your saddle on?” Fishlegs asks. She nods. “Why? It might be more comfortable for you to sleep with it off.” 

She shakes her head.  _ “No. Not-want sleep.”  _

“Meatlug, princess, you have to sleep. It’s good for you.” 

She shakes her head, more firmly this time.  _ “No. Sleep scary.” _

Fishlegs’ stomach drops. “You’re scared to sleep?” 

She nods.  _ “Scared.” _

“Are you having nightmares?” 

She makes a quizzical sound.  _ “Not Hookfang.” _

“No… uh. Frightening dreams? Scary dreams? Are you having scary dreams?” 

She whimpers and nods.  _ “Scary. Big scary. Meatlug not-sleep.” _

Fishlegs’ heart squeezes in his chest. “How long have you been having scary dreams?” 

Meatlug doesn’t hesitate in her response.  _ “After Alpha won. New-Alpha.”  _

The floor might have dropped out from underneath him. “Weeks?! You haven’t been sleeping for weeks?!” It’s been almost three months since the defeat of Drago. 

_ “Small-sleep sometime. Not big. Not good sleep. Meatlug tired,” _ she whines, leaning into Fishlegs’ hands.

Fishlegs pulls her close, hugging her as much as he can manage. “Oh, girl. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” 

_ “Fishlegs busy. Help new…” _ she pauses, as if testing out the next word,  _ “chief. Human-Nest important. Meatlug wait.”  _

“You’re important too, Meatlug. You’re important to me,” Fishlegs says, voice cracking. He can’t believe that he’s been blind to her suffering for so long. “Always talk to me. Always. I want to help you.” 

She whines again. Fishlegs knows that if she could, she would be crying right now. Really, how could he not see her struggling? How could he be so focused on writing a stupid report that he didn’t notice one of his best friends’ suffering?  _ “Meatlug so tired.” _

“I know, girl. I know.” Fishlegs tries to soothe her, rubbing his hands over her head. At least they’re big enough to cover most of her face. She’s still whimpering and Fishlegs’ chest feels tight. “Tell me about your dreams. Maybe I can help?” 

She starts trembling under his hands.  _ “Meatlug empty. No love. No-happy. No Fishlegs. Only will, only Alpha,” _ she sobs. 

Fishlegs shushes her, heart breaking. “There, there,” he soothes. “Those are just dreams. The Alpha is long gone. You’re safe.” 

She shakes her head.  _ “Not Old-Alpha. New-Alpha. Nightwing-Alpha.” _

“Toothless?” Fishlegs asks incredulously. “You’re scared of Toothless?” 

_ “Alpha strong,” _ Meatlug nods.  _ “Must obey. Cannot no-obey.”  _

Fishlegs is confused. Is Toothless really like that? Does Meatlug see or know something he doesn’t? It wouldn't be the first time, especially considering the dragons, but he can’t be  _ that  _ oblivious. And he doesn’t want to believe it either. The Toothless he has come to know has always put others before himself (especially with Hiccup), time and time again. He can’t recall a time that Toothless has acted selfishly beyond keeping others from taking his food. But even then, Fishlegs can see it’s almost a game between the dragons. 

He understands that there’s a structure to dragon society. He understands the idea objectively, even if he doesn’t fully understand it, or most humans wouldn’t understand it. Dragons seem to follow a strict hierarchy, where someone is  _ always _ in charge of everyone. At the very top, there’s the Alpha. He (or she) commands the dragons of a region, but there are so many dragons spread out over the archipelago and beyond. No matter how large the Alpha, they cannot control every dragon at any point in time, so there are multiple Alphas, to Fishlegs' understanding, spread all over the world. So there are dragons far enough away that Toothless’ call wouldn’t affect them. 

Underneath the Alpha, in terms of hierarchy, are the Queens. They control Nests. They have control kind of like an Alpha, but they answer to the Alpha? Fishlegs isn’t exactly sure how Queens are originally chosen, or how they get power, but most collections of dragons always seem to instinctively submit to one dragon. The most Fishlegs understands about Queens is that Hiccup and Toothless defeated the Helheim’s Gate Queen, but that’s about it. But… thinking about it… if the dragons always have someone in charge… “Is Berk a Nest?” Fishlegs asks, surprised that he’s never considered it before. He had assumed that with the death of the Red Death, the dragons wouldn’t be bound to a Queen.

Meatlug nods.  _ “Berk-Nest.” _

“Who led the Berk-Nest? Or leads it?” 

_ “Alpha was Queen.” _

Fishlegs gasps, his inner nerd taking over for a moment. “Toothless was king— uh, Queen—of Berk-Nest?” He never thought of that. Never considered that. Looking back, it makes sense. If the dragons  _ have _ to follow the hierarchy then it would only make sense that a nest gets a Queen. And it only makes sense that the one who defeated the last Queen would take over the mantle, especially considering what happened with Toothless and the Bewilderbeast,

Meatlug nods, bringing Fishlegs out of his geek-spiral. He shakes his head, making a mental note to revisit this whole thing later. And maybe to tell Hiccup because if he doesn’t already know, he’s going to freak out. “Okay, so Toothless was king… what difference does it make now?” he asks. As far as he understands from Valka, the Bewilderbeast Alpha that she loved was much like Toothless in the sense that he didn’t control his nest. “Isn’t Toothless the same dragon that he was yesterday?” 

Meatlug shakes her head.  _ “More power. More dragon.”  _

Fishlegs is still confused. “More dragon? He has more control over the dragons?” Sometimes Dragonese doesn’t allow for plural words, so it makes it a little hard to understand. 

She nods.  _ “Force-will. Take away happy. Take away Fishlegs. Meatlug not-want.” _

She’s shaking again. Fishlegs tries to soothe her, but she won’t stop. If anything, the shaking only seems to be getting worse. “It’s okay, girl. It’s okay,” he tries to reassure her. “Toothless wouldn’t do that. He would never force will.” The “force will” comes out a little strangled. He’s not sure of the significance of saying it that way, so he has no idea if he’s using it right. 

Meatlug whimpers.  _ “Alpha  _ always _ use force-will...” _

“Hey now,” Fishlegs says gently, “that might be true for other Alphas, but this is Toothless we’re talking about here. Toothless led Berk-Nest without doing that,right? He did it for years.” 

Her shaking lessens and she tilts her head, considering.  _ “Alpha-control not-same,”  _ she says slowly.  _ “More than Queen-control.” _ But she doesn’t sound too convinced of that, like she might be putting up a fight for the sake of it. Like it’s easier to fight than to give in because you’ve been fighting for so long. Fishlegs knows this feeling, knows how confusing it can be. 

“You’re probably right,” Fishlegs concedes: after all, he isn’t a dragon, “but this is still Toothless. He cares about every dragon here.” Images flash in his mind of Hiccup crying over Stoick’s body, Toothless confused and hurting nearby, pushed away by a grief-stricken Hiccup. He swallows heavily, tempted to cry. “And I don’t think Toothless, of anyone, would force a dragon to do something they didn’t want to do.” 

Meatlug whimpers at that, but it’s weak, like she’s already half-asleep.  _ “Alpha sad.” _

“Oh?” Fishlegs prompts, hoping she’ll expand on it, but she’s already sleeping, fully relaxed and leaning against Fishlegs. He won’t wake her, not even to sate his own curiosity. Carefully, he settles her against the floor and rushes to his notebook, eagerly writing down everything he discussed with Meatlug. He can’t wait to talk to Hiccup about this, but he also can’t wait to ask Meatlug more questions. He can’t wait to understand his friend better. 

For now though, he guards Meatlug’s sleep. 

She ends up sleeping through the night and into the next day, Fishlegs only leaving for a few moments at a time, to eat or to use the outhouse. Other than that, he stays by her side, watching to make sure that the nightmares don’t come back. 

They never do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please, please! Leave a comment and let me know what you're thinking! and kudos are always welcome! thank you so much for waiting~!
> 
> Follow me on [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/_Thursday_26) for more real time updates! 
> 
> see you next week!


	4. Astrid & Stormfly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stormfly talks to Astrid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! it's Thursday! and this time I am ready to go much earlier than the other chapters!! Hope you enjoy it!

Astrid has always been a good warrior. She can put her head down and listen to orders, no problem. Stormfly has always been the same, falling into her rank and executing orders with a startling amount of accuracy and determination. These qualities have been assets in the chaos that came after the battle with Drago and his alpha. They’ve been able to fall back on their training and determination to do what needs to get done. So far, that has been supporting Hiccup in his new role as chief. 

In the aftermath, when Stormfly did what she was told, without complaint or question, Astrid didn’t think too much of it, falling into a similar pattern herself. It takes her an embarrassingly long time to realize that maybe Stormfly isn’t okay. She didn’t even realize on her own! No, she overheard Fishlegs and Snotlout talking about how worried they were about their dragons, how they were having trouble sleeping and had concerns about… Toothless? She only picked up part of the conversation, but it’s only after that that she noticed Stormfly was a little… off. 

It’s not easy to tell, since Stormfly is acting so closely to how she normally acts, but once you see it, you can’t  _ not  _ see it. Stormfly stands too straight, defers too quickly, and only reacts when spoken to. This wouldn’t necessarily be odd if it was only Hiccup she responded to like that, or Toothless, but she does it in their free time, too. She doesn’t stand up to Astrid, or offer her own opinions, even when prompted, and blindly agrees to everything. She’s never been confrontational or adversarial for the sake of disagreement, but she’s never been so blindly obedient either. She’s not sure if the obedience or the exhaustion is worse. Because obedience isn’t something that can kill you in a combat situation, but exhaustion is. 

Now, to be fair, they’re all tired. Hiccup has everyone in the village working every day, sunrise to sunset, rebuilding the village and integrating the new dragons, but Stormfly looks like she hasn’t slept in weeks. At least Astrid has been able to get a few hours of deep, uninterrupted sleep between the tasks assigned to her by Hiccup. Sometimes she’s able to sneak in a quick power nap, when time allows. But she can’t remember the last time she saw Stormfly sleeping, instead assuming she slept when Astrid did. 

So today, for no particular reason, Astrid clears it with Hiccup and takes Stormfly off Berk first thing in the morning. She needed to be sure that she wouldn’t be needed, most of the village is coming together and Fishlegs took a day off not too long ago, so she gets permission and goes off island. Stormfly doesn’t question what they’re doing, only following orders. That doesn’t sit well with Astrid, but she won’t say anything until they’ve reached somewhere secluded.

‘Somewhere secluded’ manifests in the form of a sea stack a fair distance from Berk. They aren’t far, the sun barely up, but they’re far enough that it’ll take people time to find them if they come looking for them. No one can overhear them out here. Astrid guides Stormfly to land and dismounts. 

Stormfly is looking around curiously, but she’s not saying anything. Astrid steps out in front of her friend, making sure to stay in her line of sight. “What’s wrong, Stormfly?” Astrid asks. She’s far enough away from Stormfly that she can’t touch her. She doesn’t like that, but she needs to stay far enough away or she’ll be in Stormfly’s blind spot. 

Stormfly tenses, but tilts her head. Astrid’s neck twinges in sympathy. The movement looks stiff and forced.  _ “Stormfly right. Not wrong.” _

Astrid is a little taken aback by the response, not expecting it. “That’s… that’s not what I meant. I meant: What’s bothering you?” 

_ “Nothing. Stormfly all-good.” _ Her voice sounds strained.

Astrid crosses her arms over her chest, a stabbing pain going through her heart. The thing is, if she wasn’t looking for signs of stress, she probably would have believed her. Probably never would have noticed how strange Stormfly’s behavior is. “Please don’t lie to me, Stormfly. You’re very good at pretending, but I can see how upset you are. Just tell me what’s wrong.” 

_ “Nothing wrong!” _ Stormfly snaps, wings flapping out like she’s trying to make herself look bigger. Like she isn’t already much bigger and stronger than Astrid.  _ “Stormfly perfect.” _

“What?” Astrid asks, not sure how she’s feeling other than uneasy. “No. Something’s bothering you—” 

_ “No! No bother!” _ Stormfly looks angry: her wings are flapping out and she’s taking firm steps forward. Astrid has to back up to stay in her blind spot. She isn’t intimidated by Sotrmfly, sure that her friend would never hurt her. But there’s something in her tone that Astrid can hear underneath all the anger: Stormfly sounds like she’s in pain.

“Please, Stormfly, I want to help—” Astrid begs, still taking steps back, her hands out in front of her. 

_ “No! No-help!”  _ Stormfly shrieks. She stops advancing on Astrid.  _ “Stormfly perfect!”  _

“I never said you weren’t! What’s going on?!” Astrid yells back. She knows that yelling probably won’t help, but she has no idea what else to do.

_ “Nothing! Nothing!” _

“Please, Stormfly! It’s obviously not nothing!” Astrid takes a step forward and Stormfly takes an immediate step back. “Please, girl. I just want to help,” she pleads, moving steadily closer, keeping both her hands up. 

She’s trying not to get into Stormfly’s blind spot, but Stormfly needs some comfort. Although she tries not to, Astrid does move into the blind spot. It’s never been an issue before, Stormfly trusts Astrid, but this time is different. Stormfly spooks and scrambles backward as fast as she can. In her desperation to get away, her wings flap out and she knocks Astrid to the ground while still moving backward until she scrambles right off the edge of the sea stack with a surprised squawk. 

“Stormfly!” Astrid calls, getting back to her feet and peering over the edge, more shocked than anything. She watches Stormfly flail for a moment then right herself in the air. The next moment she’s flying back up to the top of the sea stack, this time keeping a good bit of distance between herself and Astrid. 

Astrid stares for a moment, eyes wide. What the Hel is going on with her friend? Stormfly looks ashamed, eyes downcast and wings pulled in tight. Her eyes close tight, then her legs buckle and she collapses, a wail tearing from her throat.

Astrid is at Stormfly’s side in an instant, wrapping her arms around Stormfly’s neck. She tries to keep her panic at bay when Stormfly leans into her embrace, almost knocking her over again.”It’s okay, it’s okay,” Astrid whispers, running her hands over Stormfly’s scales. “I’m here. I’m here.” 

_ “Stormfly wrong. Stormfly so wrong,” _ she cries. 

Astrid’s heart breaks. “You’re not wrong, Stormfly. You’re perfect. You’re absolutely perfect.” She knows that Stormfly isn’t talking about feeling upset or something being wrong in her life, she’s talking about Stormfly, herself, being wrong, broken. 

_ “No. Stormfly wrong. Stormfly not-fit.” _

“No, Stormfly. I…” Astrid bites her lip and blinks quickly, trying not to cry. “Tell me what’s going on,” she begs. Seeing Stormfly like this is too much to bear. And to think that she’s been ignorant of it until now. How long has Stormfly been suffering silently? “Let me help you.” 

_ “Not-deserve help. Stormfly failure,” _ she whines, miserable… resigned. 

Astrid wracks her brain. What could Stormfly possibly be talking about? She’s always been a good warrior, following orders and kicking ass like it’s second nature. Never in a thousand years would Astrid associate Stormfly with the concept of ‘failure.’ Nothing comes to mind. “What are you talking about? You’re the best dragon I know.” 

_ “Stormfly fail. Only fail,”  _ she whispers.  _ “Fail always. No use. Use-less.” _

“Fail?” Astrid can hear herself sounding like she doesn’t believe Stormfly. And she doesn’t. She can’t remember a single time that Stormfly has failed her, or their team. Astrid doesn’t usually have this issue with Stormfly. It’s easy to believe her, but Astrid can’t in this situation.

_ “Fail Queen… Fail Alpha… Stormfly thrown away…” _

“What?” Astrid asks, sitting back far enough to look Stormfly in the eye. “Who’s going to throw you away?!” 

_ “Alpha.”  _

“Alpha? He’s gone. You’re free. No more alphas.” 

Stormfly snorts.  _ “Always Alpha. New-Alpha not-want Stormfly.”  _

“New alpha..” Astrid repeats, confused. Then it clicks. “Toothless?” she asks incredulously. Stormfly winces and nods. “Why would he want to throw you away?” 

_ “Stormfly fail Alpha. Stormfly only know failure.” _

“When?” 

_ “Human-capture, first fail.” _

Astrid opens her mouth, wanting to argue, but, as a warrior, she can kind of understand where Stormfly is coming from. Being captured by the enemy is a failure, no matter how you spin it. She can’t outright deny Stormfly; it would be insulting. “Okay,” Astrid says, patting Stormfly’s head slowly. “Human-capture, what next?”

Stormfly inhales shakily, like she’s crying, but there are no tears because dragons can’t physically cry.  _ “Stormfly dead. Stormfly fail. Death for Stormfly. Human-death, dragon-death. Stormfly dead.”  _ Astrid isn’t sure she understands, so she stays quiet and it sounds like Stormfly isn’t done yet.  _ “Stormfly saved by New-Alpha. New-Alpha and Hiccup-Mate. Stormfly owes…” _ she takes a deep breath  _ “...life debt.” _

Astrid’s eyes go wide. “You owe a life debt to Hiccup and Toothless?” And she’s not going to focus on the ‘Hiccup-Mate’ thing. Not yet. Right now, she needs to focus on Stormfly. 

Stormfly nods, pushing her head into Astrid’s stomach.  _ “Stormfly try perfect, Alpha let stay.”  _ She starts shaking again.  _ “Stormfly not-perfect.” _

“Shhh… shhh... “ Astrid soothes, rubbing her hands over Stormfly’s head, even scratching behind her horns, which she knows that Stormfly loves. But it does nothing to soothe her. “No one is perfect,” Astrid whispers. Stormfly whines loudly. “Don’t be upset, girl. No one is perfect.” It’s a hard reality to accept when you push yourself to try to be as close to perfect as possible. Astrid has had to sit back and accept that she isn’t always going to be the best, or be perfect at what she does. It’s just a fact of life. “Not even Toothless is perfect.” 

Stormfly sits up, wide eye on Astrid.  _ “No bad-speak Alpha.” _

“I’m not bad-speaking the alpha,” Astrid shoots back. “I’m telling the truth: no one is perfect. And for an imperfect someone to demand perfection from you… you don’t deserve that.” 

Stormfly whimpers.  _ “Fail life debt. Astrid not-understand. Dragon not-same.” _

“Then help me understand,” Astrid pleads. 

_ “Stormfly protect Berk-Nest, before New-Alpha be-come Alpha. Fail. Can-not save Nest, not-can serve New-Alpha. Only failure. Stormfly only failure.” _ Astrid waits. Stormfly isn’t making much sense, but maybe she’ll get there without Astrid interrupting.  _ “Fail Old-Queen. Stormfly dead. New-Queen, fail, too…” _

Somehow, it clicks in Astrid’s mind. “You think that you’ll fail the new alpha too, because you’ve failed the last two queens? Stormfly, no—”

_ “No,”  _ Stormfly cuts her off, raising her head and looking straight at Astrid with one eye.  _ “Stormfly already fail New-Alpha. New-Alpha, New-Queen same. Stormfly disgrace.” _ Her head falls back into Astrid’s lap.  _ “Stormfly waiting death-order.” _

Astrid’s heart leaps into her throat. “He could  _ kill you?!” _

Stormfly solemnly nods.  _ “Alpha-order law. Dragon must obey.” _

Astrid shakes her head. “No way. No way would Toothless kill you! No matter what you did!” She’s starting to panic. Could Toothless really kill Stormfly and no one would be able to stop it? “Did you fail because you listened to Drago’s Alpha?” 

Stormfly cries out again, nodding.  _ “Not-could protect Berk-Nest. Attack Berk-Nest.” _

“Toothless did that, too! He  _ flew Drago _ to Berk!” Astrid argues. “He can’t penalize you for something he failed at, too!” 

Stormfly whines.  _ “New-Alpha protect Berk. Save all. Stormfly owe two life debt, but only one life.” _ Astrid opens her mouth to speak, but Stormfly speaks over her.  _ “Not-worth life.” _

Astrid wraps her arms around Stormfly’s neck. “Stormfly, you are worth it! You are! Toothless would never hurt you! He wanted to save you! And even if he wanted to kill you, Hiccup wouldn’t allow him to!”

Stormfly chuckles.  _ “Hiccup-Mate not more powerful than New-Alpha.” _

“I bet he is,” Astrid shoots back. “We know Toothless. He’d do anything for Hiccup and we know that he would never hurt any of his friends.”

Stormfly squirms.  _ “Alpha lonely. No friends.” _

Astrid scoffs and pats Stormfly’s neck. “Maybe not a mighty Bewilderbeast, but Toothless is a tiny Night Fury. And Toothless was your friend before, but he’s still the same guy… like Hiccup is the same guy, but with more responsibility now.”

_ “New-Alpha—” _

“What did you call Toothless before this whole alpha thing?” 

Stormfly has a moment of stunned silence.  _ “T-Toothless…” _

“Okay, let’s start small,” Astrid suggests. “He’s still the same dragon. Call him ‘Toothless’ instead of ‘New-Alpha.’”

Stormfly squawks in disbelief.  _ “No! Must respect! Must revere! New-Alpha above Stormfly!” _

Astrid shakes her head, not wanting to unpack that right now. So she concedes, “That may be so, but don’t you think it’s disrespectful to stop using someone’s name?” Stormfly is silent. “And we’ve all been very busy, but from what I can tell, Toothless doesn’t much like it when the dragons bow to him.”

_ “Show-respect,”  _ she argues back weakly.

“Okay, let’s keep it small,” Astrid repeats. “Still bow, if you must, but call him Toothless.” 

Stormfly squirms.  _ “Toothless-Alpha.” _

Astrid smiles. “There we go! That’s a start!”

Stormfly relaxes now, melting into the ground, a soft trill coming from her throat.  _ “Toothless-Alpha same. Toothless-Alpha kind.” _

Astrid hums and nods, but doesn’t say anything. 

_ “Toothless-Alpha friend…”  _ Stormfly continues talking about Toothless, listing off his good qualities and relaxing with every new item she lists. Slowly, Stormfly’s voice starts to taper off and it isn’t long before she’s asleep. 

Astrid continues to hum, petting her dragon, despite her legs falling asleep under the weight of the Nadder’s head. Maybe she should talk to Hiccup about this? If Stormfly feels this way, perhaps the others do as well? And how is Toothless feeling about this change?

It’s so easy to forget that the dragons aren’t completely resistant to everything that comes their way, with them being fireproof and all that. But they have feelings and fears, and maybe the Riders need a reminder of that. Astrid knows that she should talk with Hiccup about this, at least about how her dragon feels. She will, when they get back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading! Comments and kudos are always welcome!
> 
> Follow me on [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/_Thursday_26) for more updates! I will see y'all next week!


	5. Ruffnut and Tuffnut & Barf and Belch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barf and Belch talk to Ruffnut and Tuffnut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! it's Thursday!! 
> 
> new chapter with the twins! This was an... interesting chapter to write! I hope everyone enjoys it and I'll see you next week!

The Thorston twins have always been accused of being dumb, have always heard that they never see the bigger picture and are more trouble than they’re worth. They know it’s not true, but they aren’t about to stop anyone from thinking that. It’s too much fun to undermine their expectations. So they’re probably the first ones to notice something is wrong with the dragons, much to their surprise, since they know one (1) Hiccup “Dragon Lover” Haddock. Also another Mr. Fishlegs “I-Definitely-Keep-A-Copy-of-The-Book-Of-Dragons-Under-My-Pillow” Ingerman.

They don’t say anything, watching the dragons tiptoe around one another, especially around Toothless. It’s not that they’re keeping quiet because they don’t care, they just assumed that Hiccup had noticed before them and was going to come up with a plan and share it with everyone else. Or was maybe collaborating with Fishlegs on a solution. 

But weeks have passed and the dragons are getting worse. 

It’s concerning to watch and not even the twins can get out of helping rebuild the village. Not that they wouldn’t want to help, they wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, but they do have an image to uphold. And helping around the village has left them exhausted enough that they can’t find the energy to confront Barf and Belch about their disturbing behavior. 

After three months, there’s a distinct break in the chores that need to be done and the Thorston twins are able to sneak away. They’ve helped without complaint (mostly) for weeks: they deserve a break and so does their dragon.So they go to a beach on the other side of the island, with the intention of relaxing in the sunlight and enjoying the day. Hiccup may be upset they disappeared, but this is important. 

Barf and Belch stick close to them when they dismount. That’s not uncommon, but it feels different than usual. There’s almost… desperation in their movement to be near, instead of a desire to stay close. Ruffnut and Tuffnut share a look then nod. They were content to spend the day lazing about, but this can’t wait anymore.

“What’s going on, guys?” Ruffnut asks, reaching out for Barf’s head.

Barf snaps at her hand and it’s only instinct that keeps her hand from being bitten. She pulls her hand back to her chest, eyes wide on her dragon.  _ “Nothing,”  _ Barf growls, giving a side-eyed look to Belch. 

“When did you start taking lying lessons from Hiccup?” Tuffnut asks, crossing his arms dramatically. “Because I  _ know _ we taught you better than  _ that.” _

The dragons glare at him. “Come on guys, just talk to us,” Ruffnut pleads and, despite her instincts telling her not to, she reaches out again for Barf. They flinch, but don’t try to bite Ruffnut again. Her hand settles on the side of their head and she realizes that Barf is shaking. 

Tuffnut tries to pet Belch, but they pull their head out of his reach, still glaring at Tuffnut. Tuffnut continues this for a bit then makes a frustrated noise. “Come on! Why does Ruffnut get all the Zippleback love?” he whines. 

Belch sniffs, then sticks his nose in the air. Ruffnut chuckles despite herself, but it’s only a moment of amusement. She’s never seen Barf and Belch out of sync, not since she and Tuffnut were first learning how to fly. 

She looks back to her dragon and Barf’s eyes are closed. If dragons could cry, she thinks that Barf would be crying. Or on the verge of crying. Like their eyes would be wet and they’d be trying really hard to keep it in. “Oh, Barf,” she whispers, wrapping her arms around their head. Barf leans into her embrace, still shaking. 

“Don’t make me come after you,” Tuffnut threatens. Ruffnut turns her attention and sees her brother pointing his finger at Belch, who’s holding their head far out of Tuffnut’s reach. 

Belch snaps a glare at Tuffnut and growls,  _ “Dare Tuff-Brat.” _

Tuffnut looks like he’s ready to climb the Zippleback’s neck, but he glances at Ruffnut and seems to calm down. Ruffnut appreciates it. If they start wrestling, Belch will be dragging Barf around and Barf doesn’t need that. Tuffnut takes a deep breath and changes tactics. “Come on, what if  _ I _ need a hug?” 

Belch gives Tuffnut a look like they don’t believe him.  _ “Sister-Nut hug,” _ they argue, nodding towards Ruffnut and Barf. 

“Ruffnut doesn’t hug me,” Tuffnut says, waving off that idea. “She’s my  _ sister _ .” Belch snorts. “You’re really going to leave me all alone? Down here? By  _ myself?” _ Belch looks torn. Ruffnut bites the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling. If there’s one thing Tuffnut is good at, it’s laying it on thick. He gives Belch a pathetic look. “All cold? Lonely?” 

Belch looks at Ruffnut and Barf then back to Tuffnut. Ruffnut is rubbing Barf’s head, listening to Tuffnut, but staying out of it.  _ “Quick,”  _ Belch says, leaning down. 

Tuffnut beams and opens his arms. “Promise. Just one quick hug.” 

When Belch’s head is in Tuffnut’s arms, they lean hard into the embrace, making Tuffnut stumble. Then the Zippleback’s legs give out and Ruffnut and Tuffnut scramble to keep the heads in their arms from smacking onto the ground. 

Belch starts to shake and Barf’s shaking gets worse. Twin whines break from Barf and Belch’s chest, loud and heartbreaking. Terrifyingly in sync. 

Ruffnut and Tuffnut sit quickly, cross-legged, with their dragon’s heads in their laps. “It’s okay. You’re okay,” the twins whisper together, sharing worried looks. What is happening to their dragon? 

“It’s okay,” Ruffnut says again, giving Barf another stroke over his head. “Talk to us, guys. Tell us how we can help.” 

“You two need someone taken care of?” Tuffnut cuts in, adding a bit of levity. “Cause I can try! Just name ‘em and let me go!” 

Ruffnut can’t help the smile on her face. Barf and Belch laugh, but their chuckles are out of sync.The smile slowly falls off her face at the sound.  _ “No human-help,”  _ Barf says, sounding resigned. 

_ “Barf-and-Belch silly,” _ Belch adds. 

“No, not silly,” Tuffnut says. “The only silly thing about you two is that your lying skills seem to have disappeared. I didn’t know those went away.” Barf and Belch huff at the same time and something eases in Ruffnut’s chest. 

_ “Want Sister-Nut,” _ Belch says, but makes no effort to move. 

Tuffnut gasps dramatically. “After all my love?” Another chuckle. Tuffnut’s face softens. “Seriously though, what’s going on, guys?” He rubs his hand over Belch’s head, making sure to get those spots that Belch loves. Ruffnut is doing the same with Barf. 

_ “Alpha scary,” _ Belch admits and Barf nods in agreement. 

“That alpha was scary!” Tuffnut agrees loudly.

“Yeah!” Ruffnut chimes in.

“But Toothless and Hiccup got rid of that guy, so there’s nothing to be scared of now!”

Belch sighs heavily, like they can’t believe they’re talking to Tuffnut at all.  _ “Not Drago-Alpha.” _

“Wait,” Ruffnut says, turning Barf’s head to look them in the eye.”You’re scared of Toothless?” The only reason Ruffnut would think that is that the battle against Drago is fresh in her mind, even now, and she remembers Hiccup indirectly calling Toothless ‘the Alpha.’ She didn’t think much of it at the time, but what if Hiccup was right? 

“Toothless?” Tuffnut asks, chuckling. “That overgrown cat?”

Barf and Belch snarl warningly at Tuffnut. The twins jerk back, surprised at the hostility.  _ “No bad-talk Alpha. No challenge,” _ they say together. 

“ _ Challenge? _ Why would I challenge Toothless?” Tuffnut asks incredulously. “You remember last time I was left in charge of anything? Everything was on fire!” 

Ruffnut rolls her eyes at her brother, carefully putting her hands back on Barf’s head. “Yeah, and could a human even  _ be _ an Alpha?”

_ “Not point,”  _ they shake their heads,  _ “Alpha-rule absolute. No question. No challenge.”  _

Tuffnut’s face scrunches up, like he’s thinking hard. Ruffnut knows it’s an exaggeration. “Yeah… I’m not buying it. I’ve seen Toothless with Hiccup. He’s a softie.” 

“Except when he’s protecting Hiccup,” Ruffnut adds.

“Of course,” he concedes, waving a hand, “but I’m not about to attack Hiccup, so Toothless is harmless.” 

Barf and Belch make a noise like they're choking on air.  _ “Not-harmless,” _ they hiss.  _ “Danger. Alpha danger.”  _

Tuffnut opens his mouth to speak again, but Ruffnut speaks first. “Okay, let’s say he  _ is _ dangerous,” she offers. “Why is he dangerous?”

_  “Absolute power, force-will. No dragon say no to Alpha.”  _ Barf and Belch are still speaking in unison. 

The twins’ eyes go wide. “Force-will?” they ask at the same time. 

The Zippleback whines and buries their faces into their Riders’ stomachs. Ruffnut looks at her brother and they have a conversation without speaking. If the dragons won’t explain it to them, then they have to figure it out. The dragons are quite literal when it comes to describing things. 

Ruffnut tilts her head and mouths ‘total control?’ 

Tuffnut purses his lips then shakes his head. “That doesn’t sound right,” he says. “Doesn’t sound like Toothless at all.” 

“Yeah,” Ruffnut agrees. “I mean if he could control anyone’s will, he’s use it to stop Hiccup from making dumb decisions.” 

Tuffnut snickers. “Or to get more fish.” Ruffnut smiles.

Barf and Belch make distressed noises.  _ “No bad-speak Alpha,” _ they plead, almost in unison. 

Ruffnut and Tuffnut hush the dragons in their arms. “We aren’t bad-speaking Toothless, he’s our friend,” Tuffnut tells them. “We tease him because we love the softie.” 

_ “Bad-speak,” _ they shoot back, still sounding distressed. 

“Is that why you guys have been so weird around Toothless?” Ruffnut asks, steering them away from the bad-speak spiral that she knows can go on for hours. 

_ “Respect Alpha.” _

“Toothless is your friend. Or he was. Has he changed that much since becoming the Alpha?” Tuffnut queries, sounding genuinely curious. Both of them know just how a change in status can change a person, so it wouldn’t be too hard to think Toothless changed a lot after taking on his new role. 

_ “Alpha alone. No Alpha-friends.” _

The twins frown again. Ruffnut gives a look to her brother. “That has to suck,” she says, looking back at Barf and scratching their chin the way they like it. “Does it really have to be that way?”

_ “All Alpha alone,” _ Barf tells her solemnly.  _ “Always alone.”  _

_ “Always alone,” _ Belch echoes quietly. 

Barf whines again and he looks like he could start crying at any moment. It breaks Ruffnut’s heart.  _ “Miss Toothless-Queen.” _

“Queen?” the twins ask, confused. 

_ “Toothless-Queen not scary,” _ Belch chimes in. Barf nods in agreement.

There are so many questions, but they need to focus. Tuffnut speaks first, “Toothless-Queen?” 

“How is Toothless-Queen less scary than Toothless-Alpha?” Ruffnut clarifies. 

The dragons hiss at her,  _ “No Toothless. Only Alpha.” _

She holds up her hands. “Fine, but what do you mean ‘Queen’?” 

_ “Berk-Nest,” _ they respond, like that is all they need to say. But that’s a new term to the twins as well. 

“Berk-Nest?” 

_ “Berk-Nest home,” _ Belch says.

_ “Home has Queen,” _ Barf adds. 

_ “Toothless-Queen,” _ they say at the same time. 

Ruffnut can feel frustration burning in her chest and from the look on Tuffnut’s face, he’s feeling it, too. Barf and Belch are not answering their questions at all. They both take a moment to breathe. Is getting answers going to be like pulling teeth? “I’m assuming that you have to respect the Queen, too, right?” Ruffnut asks.

_ “Of course!” _ Barf and Belch say like she’s insane for even thinking it wasn’t that way. 

She ignores the tone. “How long as Toothless been Toothless-Queen?” 

_ “Five winters,” _ Barf says.

Ruffnut’s brow furrows, doing the math in her head. She looks to Tuffnut, but asks everyone, “Since the Red Death?” Barf and Belch nod. “Did you know that?” Ruffnut asks Tuffnut. 

“No,” Tuffnut says. “Toothless was in charge of all of the dragons on Berk?” There’s a moment of silence then Tuffnut’s face lights up. “That’s so cool! Do you think Hiccup knows?” He gasps. “Do we know something about Toothless  _ before Hiccup does?” _

Excitement flutters in Ruffnut’s chest, but that’s not important right now. “Focus, Tuffnut. We’ll rub it in his face later.” 

Tuffnut sits up straight and collects himself, nodding. He’s half-successful at stopping his smile. “Right,” he nods. “What’s different besides what you call him?” 

Barf and Belch lift up their heads and look at each other, then back to Tuffnut.  _ “Alpha now.”  _

Tuffnut nods again. “Okay, yes. He’s the Alpha now, but what can he do now that he couldn’t do before?” 

Barf and Belch look like they’re at a loss for words. They give each other a look.  _ “Alpha now?” _ they say to each other, but they don’t sound so sure.

Ruffnut turns to her brother, giving the dragons a moment to work it out. “Could you imagine?” she asks her brother. 

“I can imagine a lot of things,” Tuffnut tells her. “I can imagine no possessions—I hardly think you can—no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man… but what specifically am I imagining?” 

Used to his tangents, Ruffnut ignores the middle part of that. “Not being Hiccup's friend anymore now that he’s chief.” 

Tuffnut scrunches up his nose. “I don’t like that one. Tell me to imagine something else.” 

“No,” Ruffnut shakes her head. “I want to play this out. What would happen?” 

“Fine,” huffs Tuffnut. “I imagine… wait, does Hiccup still have the rest of the Riders? Or is everyone not friends with him anymore?” 

“No, none of the Riders.”

Tuffnut’s face falls. “He’d be so lonely. I know we haven’t always been best friends, but I don’t want Hiccup to be sad!” He shakes his head. “No, Ruffnut. I don’t like this one. It wouldn't happen!”

_ “Alpha sad?” _ Barf whispers, confused. 

The twins look to their dragon again. Barf and Belch seem to be talking with one another. They’re speaking too fast for Rufnut or Tuffnut to translate, but they’re chattering away, getting more dismayed as time passes.  _ “Toothless-friend!”  _ Belch nearly yells, cutting off something Barf was saying. 

_ “But… Alpha,” _ Barf whines back. 

_ “Toothless-friend. Friend before Alpha.”  _ Belch pauses.  _ “Friend after Alpha.”  _

Barf doesn’t look too sure.  _ “Friend?” _ Barf shakes their head quickly, as if they could erase the words from the air with their movement.  _ “Barf scared.” _

_ “Barf-and-Belch scared,” _ Belch corrects. 

Ruffnut pats Barf’s head. “That’s okay.” She gives a pat to Belch too. Tuffnut does the same. “You don’t have to be alone either. We’ll always be here for you. With you.” 

“Yeah!” Tuffnut agrees with feeling. “I don’t want to, but I’d fight anyone to protect you guys!”

Like that, the tension leaves the Zippleback’s body. They lie limply on the ground, their heads in the twins’ laps, breathing deeply as if in relief.  _ “Barf-and-Belch tired,” _ they whisper together.

“Have a nap,” Tuffnut encourages. “We’ll watch over you, promise.”  

The dragons purr and nod off within seconds. The twins don’t stop petting their heads, small smiles on their faces. “How much you wanna bet that we found out about the Queen thing before Hiccup?” Tuffnut asks, just above a whisper.

Ruffnut smiles. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are always welcome! Let me know what you think! 
> 
> Follow me on [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/_Thursday_26) for more real time updates! 
> 
> See you next week!


	6. Valka & Cloudjumper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valka and Cloudjumper talk to Hiccup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that this is so late! I only realized i forgot to post this when someone said TGIF today... so yeah... sorry about that! 
> 
> In this chapter, I have Cloudjumper speaking in bold italics and also Valka does, too sometimes. This is Dragon Speak, not Dragonese. It's a little different. As far as I am concerned in this story, Valka is the only one who can understand Dragon Speak and speak it. 
> 
> otherwise i think that's eveyrthing... please enjoy!

Valka walks around the village, trying to find something to do. Hiccup has kept everyone busy for the past few cycles. It’s not a bad thing; the people need something to do to distract them from the absence that Stoick has left. 

Hiccup is doing amazing though, from her perspective. Stoick left some big shoes to fill and Hiccup is handling it. Valka never could have guessed that the village could come together so quickly after such a battle. The houses that were damaged have been fixed, the villagers that lost homes have new houses, and some are building new homesteads. The Hall is fixed and all the ice has been removed, and the people seem to be happy. Children run and play, their laughter echoing through the clear skies, and the adults are getting back into their normal routines. If she listens very hard, she can hear Gobber clattering in the smithy (or hear him yelling at Grump), or the men down at the docks, who are getting ready to go out and fish. The village sounds  _ good. _ And it was all done under Hiccup’s command. 

Cloudjumper walks alongside her, watching the other dragons. He has been checking how the Ice-Nest dragons have been acclimating to Berk-Nest. Some of the dragons have been relocated to another island, while others have stayed and are being trained alongside the younger generations. Valka loves it. She never thought she would live to see Berk like this: human and dragon living in harmony. 

The new dragons are happy. More than happy. They love the people, and that is an accomplishment in itself given their histories with humans, where some have been left disfigured. She’s pretty sure that Gothi has adopted the blind Snafflefang into her hoard. Last time, she saw Gothi covered in seven or more Terrors with a Gronckle following her around. It’s  _ amazing. _ And everyone is  _ happy. _

Or… she thought so. 

It’s taken too long to notice, but there’s an unease amongst the Berk dragons. She was so worried about the dragons from the Ice-Nest, she didn't even consider how the Berk-Nest dragons were adapting. That unease is only more noticable the longer she walks. 

Snotlout is building his new homestead and Hookfang looks cagey, nothing like the stories that Hiccup has shared about the Nightmare. Stormfly is tense, always. Barf and Belch look listless. And Meatlug looks tired. None of the dragons she’s heard stories about look like Hiccup described them. Sure, they’re slowly starting to get better, but it doesn’t seem to happen around Toothless. Any time the Alpha is near the dragons, they get worse. And Toothless looks distressed every time. It’s been getting  _ worse _ . The last day Valka can remember Toothless being okay was the day he and Hiccup defeated Drago’s Bewilderbeast. 

_ “ _ **_Cloud?_ ** _ ” _ she whispers. He picks up his pace so he’s next to her.  _ “ _ **_How are the dragons?_ ** _ ” _

As she asks the question, she’s staring at Hookfang. He’s standing close to Snotlout, who is hammering some pieces of wood together. It’s odd. The noise of the hammer should be disorienting to the Nightmare, but he’s sticking close. And he keeps on looking around like he’s expecting to be attacked. She stops in her tracks, Cloudjumper stopping next to her. 

_ “ _ **_Scared._ ** _ ” _

_ “ _ **_Scared?_ ** _ ”  _ she echoes.  _ “ _ **_What are they scared of?_ ** _ ” _ She hears his head turn and she tries to find what he’s looking at. Then she sees it: Toothless slinking through the village, head down. Alone. Where’s Hiccup?

Toothless looks  _ awful _ . He looks tired and drawn and his saddle is askew. That can’t be comfortable. He’s walking like it’s been chafing him. How could Hiccup neglect the saddle for so long that Toothless can’t even walk without pain? 

_ “ _ **_Toothless?_ ** _ ”  _ she asks, barely loud enough to hear. 

Cloudjumper rumbles, nodding.  _ “ _ **_New-Alpha._ ** _ ” _

Valka wants to ask how he knows, but she doesn’t need to. As Toothless rushes past Hookfang, the Nightmare jolts and quickly bows. The action only seems to distress Toothless. His ear flaps press against his head and he takes a couple of hurried steps backwards before dashing off. 

_ “ _ **_Where’s Hiccup?_ ** _ ”  _ she asks, scanning the area for her son. Toothless was here, she expects Hiccup to be close by.

But he’s not. 

Cloudjumper looks around, too, swivelling his head, but they can’t spot him. Maybe Hiccup is in the Great Hall? But the council isn’t meeting today, or they don’t have anything scheduled. Maybe he’s at the forge? Valka puts a hand on Cloudjumper’s side and he lowers his head so she can climb onto his back.  _ “ _ **_Forge, Cloudjumper,_ ** _ ” _ she says and he turns. They take off and are on their way. 

The closer they get to the smithy, the clearer Gobber’s whistling is. There isn’t a line outside when they land, but Gobber is hammering away at something with effort when she peeks in through the window. Grump is sleeping next to him, content and belly-up. Gobber catches them out of the corner of his eye and turns his attention to the window, an attempt at a bright smile on his face. “Val! What brings ye by?”

“Have you seen Hiccup?” she asks. “I need to talk with him about something.” 

He shakes his head, scratching his chin with his hammer. “No. I haven’t seen that boy all day.” 

Valka turns her back to the smithy’s window, searching the area for Hiccup, but no such luck. She sees the Ingerman child. He’s talking to his Gronckle, who is leaning heavily into him, but she doesn’t look too bad. Valka spots a moving shadow: Toothless. He’s sneaking through the shadows between the buildings, but he seems to stop and watch every few steps. What’s he doing?

_ “ _ **_Alpha is making sure that Berk is safe, making sure all the dragons are safe,_ ** _ ”  _ Cloudjumper tells her. 

That makes sense, but where is Hiccup? “Let’s check out the Hall,” she says, sticking to Norse this time. They take off without even offering a goodbye to Gobber. Valka would feel bad about that, but she has to find her son. 

The doors to the Great Hall are open and Valka can see and hear people laughing and visiting inside long before she and Cloudjumper land. Cloudjumper lands just outside the Hall, taking Hiccup’s rule of “No Flying in the Great Hall” very seriously. Valka jumps off Cloudjumper and runs a quick lap through the Hall. Just cheery Berkians. No Hiccup. She rushes back outside, ignoring the weird looks she gets from the people she’s running past, and jumps onto Cloudjumper’s back. “Take me to the house.” And they’re in the air again. 

She could have run to the house in the same time it took them to fly there, but when she’s in the air, she doesn’t have to go around people. Cloudjumper doesn’t mind flying her around either, but he does scoff when they land in front of the house. The door is too small for him, despite how spacious it is inside. Valka suppresses a smile. Cloudjumper is always bitter that he can’t go inside with her. 

She bursts into the house and startles Hiccup. He’s sitting at the table, reading over some papers. “Mom!” Hiccup yells, hand over his heart. “What’s wrong?” 

Hiccup looks like he’s ready to stand, but Valka waves him off. “Don’t stand. I just want to talk.” She steps inside, letting out a breath of relief that she found Hiccup, and shutting the door behind her. Cloudjumper makes a squeaky noise before the door is shut. “You’ll be fine!” she yells through the crack and closes the door all the way. 

Hiccup sighs with relief and bends over, retrieving a pencil from the ground. “Don’t do that!” he says, laughing. “Bursting into places like that. People are going to get the wrong idea.” 

She grimaces, but decides not to mention her visit to the Great Hall, how she ran in and out like a woman possessed. That’s not important now. “Sorry about that,” she says and takes a seat across from Hiccup at the table. 

Hiccup smiles and starts marking up his papers. “So what did you want to talk about?” 

“What’s going on with the dragons?” Valka asks, deciding to get straight to the point. 

Hiccup’s brow furrows but he doesn’t look up from his papers. “The dragons? Nothing.” He pauses, then looks up with wide eyes. “Why? What are they doing? If it’s Barf and Belch, we have a procedure to follow—” 

“No, Hiccup. It’s not Barf and Belch,” she cuts him off. “Well, not only them. It’s all the dragons. All the ones from Berk-Nest, before the new dragons came.”

“Berk-Nest?” 

Valka stares at him for a second. “You… you don’t know?” 

His frown deepens and his jaw tenses. “No. I don’t.” 

Valka feels a chill at his tone. “Uh… all the dragons that lived on Berk were part of a nest. You know about Queens and their Nests, right?” 

Hiccup rolls his eyes. “Yes, I know about that. But the dragons didn’t have a nest. We defeated the old Queen and they just came to live here. There was no Queen.”

Valka’s eyes go wide. He doesn’t  _ know. _ She wishes Cloudjumper was with her now. Damn Stoick for building such small doors! Or… damn Cloudjumper for being so big! The doors fit Stoick perfectly fine from what she could remember, and he was a big guy... Valka shakes her head. No. Thinking about that isn’t helping. She has to think about other things. “Come for a fly with me?” 

Hiccup looks shocked at the suggestion and… apprehensive? “I-I would, but I’ve got chiefing stuff to do.” He spreads his hands over the few pieces of paper spread out in front of him. She actually looks at them. He’s doodling. 

Valka gives him a look and he scrambles for another excuse. “I can’t just leave Berk alone! I have responsibilities! What if there’s a problem that needs my immediate attention?” 

“Isn’t that why you have Astrid?” 

His teeth click together and he swallows. “N-No… and she’s busy, she’s teaching at the Academy today. What if she needs my help? What if Fishlegs wants to talk about something? What if Gobber needs me at the forge? I can’t just disappear.” 

“What’s the real reason?” Valka asks, ignoring everything he’s saying. She knows that he’s not going to be needed today. Hiccup has been working himself to the bone. He needs to understand that he could take the day off and the village would still be standing tomorrow. 

Hiccup’s mouth snaps shut and he stares at her with wide eyes. Her heart seizes in her chest. He looks so  _ young. _

“I don’t know where Toothless is,” he admits. 

Valka is speechless for a moment. Then she says, “Well Cloudjumper has a lot of room. Let’s go.” 

She doesn’t give him a chance to disagree, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him outside. Cloudjumper is immediately on alert when they walk out. He looks between them, then lowers his head. Valka drags Hiccup onto Cloudjumper’s back and they’re in the air before Hiccup can protest. 

Hiccup clings to Valka so he doesn’t fall off. Valka tries not to laugh. Her son isn’t used to flying without a saddle. She forgets that the others sit on their dragons instead of crouching. Hiccup will be fine, though. Cloudjumper knows better than to try any tricks with a new passenger. 

Cloudjumper flies them to a sea stack not too far from Berk. They can still see the village and her people, but they have privacy out here. The only sounds out here are the sea birds, the wind on the sea, and the crashing of water against rock. 

Cloudjumper lands gracefully and Hiccup stumbles off his back. “Mom! You can’t just kidnap me!” he says when his feet are on the ground. He paces away from them, a hand on his forehead, not pacing too far. Valka jumps off Cloudjumper and Cloudjumper lies down on his belly, watching the young chief with wide eyes. 

“I didn’t kidnap you, Hiccup. I just wanted to talk in private. And Cloudjumper should be here, too.” 

Hiccup glares at her. “You know I can’t talk with Cloudjumper.”

That  _ is  _ true. Hiccup can’t speak with Cloudjumper like he could with Toothless, or any of the other Berk dragons. It’s a beacon of ingenuity on Berk, the creation of Dragonese: all dragon-led too. And taught between dragons that have been living on Berk for years. Cloudjumper can’t speak Dragonese though. From what Valka can tell, Dragonese is a simplistic form of Dragon-Speak, slowed and exaggerated so the human ear can pick up on the difference between words. Cloudjumper is learning, now that he’s part of Berk-Nest, but he doesn’t have much need for it, since Valka can understand and speak Dragon-Speak.

Hiccup could maybe get to the same place as Valka, but all he knows is Dragonese. “I can translate,” Valka offers. “Cloudjumper will have some perspective that can be helpful.” She turns to Cloudjumper.  _ “ _ **_Did you hear our conversation?_ ** _ ” _

_ “ _ **_Yes._ ** _ ” _

_ “ _ **_How can I explain it to him? He doesn’t know Toothless was Berk-Nest’s Queen?_ ** _ ” _

Cloudjumper looks over Valka’s shoulder and rumbles deeply.  _ “ _ **_Explain the hierarchy. Tell him about Challenge-Rules._ ** _ ” _

“Stop that,” Hiccup snaps, drawing Valka’s attention. He look angry. Very angry. “Stop talking like that, you  _ know _ I can’t understand and you said you wanted to talk to me. So talk t _ o me.”  _

Valka ducks her head. “Sorry.” She knows it’s rude to use Dragon-Speak in front of others. “It’s easier to communicate… never mind.” She shakes her head. “You know about the dragons’ societal structure, right?” 

Hiccup huffs rolling his eyes. “Yes. I know. There are the dragons, then the Queens of their nests, then the one Alpha.” He crosses his arms over his chest, glaring. “What does that have to do with anything?” 

_ “ _ **_Petty child,_ ** _ ” _ Cloudjumper growls. 

“Hush,” Valka whispers to him then turns back to Hiccup. “Dragon hierarchies are absolute. They need it as a species to function.” She pauses, trying to think of how to explain this. “Dragons always have nests. Some species have larger areas than most, like Speed Stingers generally take a small territory, while a Typhoomerang Nest can span several islands. But they all have a Queen.” She waits, hoping that her explanation was good enough. 

Hiccup’s frown deepens. “Thanks for the dragon lesson, Mom. Are we done?” 

“Not exactly,” Valka says. “I’m not sure you’re understanding what I’m trying to say.” She clears her throat. “So the dragons will always, always collect into Nests. And every Nest has a Queen.  _ Always. _ Dragons respect combative wins, so if a dragon defeats a Queen, they become the next Queen of that nest of dragons.”

Hiccup crosses his arms over his chest, his face scrunching up in confusion. “You’re not… no…” His arms fall to his sides as a light goes on in his eyes. “You’re not saying…” 

Valka nods.

“Toothless was the queen of a Nest?! Or… a king?” 

“Queen, dear. The heads of Nests are always Queens.”

_ “ _ **_Challenge-Rules,_ ** _ ” _ Cloudjumper whispers behind her. 

She glares at the dragon.  _ “ _ **_I’m getting to that,_ ** _ ” _ she hisses. Jeez. He’s so impatient sometimes.

He chirrs.  _ “ _ **_Snappy._ ** _ ” _

Her glare deepens.  _ “ _ **_I’ll show you snappy._ ** _ ” _

“Mom!” Hiccup interrupts, looking distressed. “Toothless was a Queen?! No, Berk is a Nest?! What?! How did I not know this?!”

Valka shrugs. “I don’t know. I assume that Toothless would have explained everything to you once you found a way to communicate.” 

_ “ _ **_Challenge-Rules._ ** _ ” _

“I swear, Cloudjumper, I will turn you into a coat if you interrupt me one more time.” 

_ “ _ **_You asked for my help! The boy needs to understand how important it is that a Night Fury is now Alpha._ ** _ ” _

_ “ _ **_I said I’m getting to it,_ ** _ ”  _ she hisses, then turns back to Hiccup, who looks like he’s getting more annoyed than distressed now. “Cloudjumper wants me to explain Challenge-Rules,” she explains. She pointedly doesn’t look at Cloudjumper. She knows that he’ll have a smug look on his face. 

“Challenge-Rules?” Hiccup asks. “For what?” 

“To be Alpha.” 

“What? What do you mean ‘to be Alpha’? There are rules for that? It’s not whatever dragon that wants to?”

Valka shakes her head. “Come sit.” 

Hiccup doesn’t move. Valka rolls her eyes and takes the few steps towards Hiccup to grab him and tugs him back toward Cloudjumper. She sits on the ground first, leaning back against the Stormcutter. Hiccup collapses to the ground in front of her. She holds onto his hands, despite his small struggle to be let go. He’s not really trying that hard anyway. “Hiccup,” she says, solemn. Hiccup stops struggling and looks up. “Do you know about force-will?” 

Cloudjumper whines but doesn’t say anything else. “Force-will?” Hiccup asks, looking from Valka to Cloudjumper, then back at Valka. “Is that… is that when that alpha was controlling Tooth... controlling the dragons?”

Valka nods. “Yes, the alpha species is able to use force-will to control the dragons. Queens have the same ability, but not to the same extent. A Queen can only control the dragons in their nest and it’s broken more easily by distance.” 

“But…” Hiccup looks so confused. “There is no more alpha species. Or... your Bewilderbeast was killed and Drago’s disappeared into the ocean. I can’t see any Bewilderbeasts around.”

Valka makes a distressed noise, much like a dragon would, and Hiccup’s eyes widen at it. She clears her throat, feeling her cheeks turning pink. “I’m not explaining myself well… let’s go back a bit–” 

_ “ _ **_Challenge-Rules._ ** _ ” _

Valka has to take a deep breath. “Challenge-Rules,” she says through gritted teeth, ignoring Cloudjumper. “There is an alpha species, and, for as long as anyone could remember, it was the Bewilderbeasts as the alpha species. Dragon Law–” 

Cloudjumper snorts. 

Valka snaps her head around to glare at the Stormcutter.  _ “ _ **_I know there’s no such thing as ‘dragon law,’ but it’s an easy term for Hiccup to understand. Now stop interrupting me otherwise I will toss you off this sea stack myself._ ** _ ” _

_ “ _ **_How would you get back to the mainland?_ ** _ ” _

_ “ _ **_I’d figure it out,_ ** _ ”  _ she grinds out between her teeth. 

“Please, Mom,” Hiccup cuts in. “I just want to know what’s going on.” 

“Sorry,” she apologizes, clearing her throat. “Dragon Law,” she ignores the groan from Cloudjumper, “states that the alpha species can challenge the current Alpha, but a Queen can also challenge the Alpha. But these are the only types that can challenge the Alpha.”

“I don’t understand.” 

“Hiccup, the alpha species is now the Night Fury,” she says softly.

Hiccup’s eyes go wide and he leans forward. “Toothless is the only Night Fury.” He shakes his head. “No. You’re telling me that Toothless… I don’t… why? What?” 

Valka looks up at Cloudjumper.  _ “ _ **_Now you want me to talk?_ ** _ ” _ he asks. Valka growls at him. _ “ _ **_What did you want to tell him?_ ** _ ” _ he continues.  _ “ _ **_Did you explain the Berk-Nest?_ ** _ ” _

She takes a moment. Where was she going with this? Force-will. Right. “Okay, Hiccup, the alpha species can use force-will on other dragons. I know the fight was scary, but the dragons seem to be spooked towards Toothless. It’s understandable, but they should have adjusted by now.”

_ “ _ **_His friends appear to be the most wary..._ ** _ ” _

“Yes,” Valka nods, “the others… Hookfang, Stormfly, Barf and Belch, and Meatlug seem to be the most scared of Toothless.”

“What?” Hiccup asks. “No. Why would they be scared of him?” 

“Well, it’s those five that seem the most scared, but the original Berk-Nest seems to be scared, too. The dragons from my old Nest have already adjusted.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Hiccup argues. “If Toothless was their leader before, they should already know what kind of leader he is. Toothless… I didn’t even know he was the Queen of the Nest until you told me!” 

Cloudjumper makes an inquisitive noise, leaning forward, close to Hiccup’s face. Hiccup leans back. eyes crossed from how close Cloudjumper is.  _ “ _ **_Truly? He lived among the others. As if without rank?_ ** _ ” _

“I don’t… I don’t understand what you’re saying…” 

“Back up, Cloudjumper,” Valka orders, patting his side. Cloudjumper sits back, looking at her. “Why is that surprising?” she asks him. “I know the Alpha didn’t interact much, but he was  _ the _ Alpha. Are the Nests like that, too?” 

_ “ _ **_Queens interact with one or two dragons of elevated rank. They order the others to retrieve food from elsewhere. I’ve never heard of a Queen living with the general dragon. I thought it was odd that Toothless had five dragons to interact with, but he didn’t flaunt his status and that is almost unheard of._ ** _ ” _ He looks at Hiccup with something akin to awe. 

Hiccup looks uncomfortable. ‘What’s he saying?” 

“Apparently the Queens have one or two dragons to interact with. They flaunt their status. Cloudjumper is in awe that Toothless lived so humbly,” Valka translates. 

“Toothless isn’t a braggart!” Hiccup snaps. “He’s always put everyone else first. Always! I’ve never seen him treat another dragon poorly the entire time I’ve known him. Well… there was this incident with a Terror and a fish…” He trails off, then shakes his head. “But Toothless is a good dragon! He would never do what the Red Death did!”

“The Red Death?” Valka asks. “Is that the old Queen?” 

Hiccup nods. “Yeah, all our dragons came from Helheim’s Gate under the Red Death to the Nest here, apparently.” 

_ “ _ **_None of the dragons have been willing to tell me about their Nest before Berk-Nest._ ** _ ” _

“None of the dragons have talked about it?” Valka asks. Hiccup tilts his head. “Cloudjumper told me that that none of the dragons would talk to him about the Nest before Berk-Nest.” Her heart sinks at the implication.

“I’m not surprised,” Hiccup sighs. “From what I saw, it was an awful place.” 

Valka’s eyes go wide. “You saw the Nest?!” 

“Yes? Like I went out on Toothless and he started flying somewhere and he took us to the Nest.” Hiccup’s shoulders slump. “He was awful, the Queen. The dragons brought back all the food they stole from Berk…” he pauses, taking a deep breath. “But it wasn’t enough.” Valka doesn’t think that Cloudjumper is breathing. “He ate that Gronckle… and that Nightmare. He didn’t… he didn’t care about the dragons. He only cared about being fed.” 

Valka doesn’t think she’s breathing either. A Queen that  _ ate _ their Nest? It’s… it’s insane!  _ “ _ **_HE ATE HIS NEST?!_ ** _ ” _ Cloudjumper roars, startling Hiccup. 

Hiccup stares up at the dragon, nodding. “Y-Yes?”

Valka has to take a deep breath. “Hiccup… that’s… that’s  _ awful. _ ” 

Cloudjumper gets to his feet and starts pacing, grumbling to himself about dishonorable leaders. Valka feels a pang of sympathy for him. They’ve talked about how they met. She remembers how he described a weird pull to come to Berk, but he wasn’t supposed to be so far away from his nest. How he described that pull was so odd, and how he came to awareness when he spotted, in his own words, “the little pink crier” in his crib. He had taken Valka in a moment of panic, and carried her all the way back to his nest. Valka had begged to stay, in any way that she could. She felt like she belonged there, among the dragons.

When they were able to communicate a little better (years later), the first thing Cloudjumper had done was ask to make sure she wanted to stay, then he tried to explain force-will and how he accidentally wandered into a Queen’s Nest without realizing it. She didn’t really understand it back then. After him trying to explain the force-will that took him to Berk, any talk about force-will was used to describe how the Alpha used it. Valka never thought to ask about Queens again; she never met one. 

Now, she wishes that she had asked, but what could she have done? 

She’s heard stories of Hiccup with the Red Death, but always thought that there was some classic Viking embellishment, but hearing Hiccup’s account of that Queen, they don’t sound so outlandish. She’s shocked that he survived that fight, almost certain that she and Cloudjumper would have made a meal for that Queen. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Hiccup asks.

Valka watches Cloudjumper pace. “He’s upset. Thinks that he might have been able to do something… but that’s not important right now.” She turns back to Hiccup. “The Alpha’s force-will is more absolute, Hiccup.”

“How so?” 

“Only a Challenger can resist the force-will of the Alpha.” 

Hiccup frowns. “But… none of the dragons in Berk-Nest was a Queen…”

Valka takes another deep breath. “Yes, the dragons on Berk cannot challenge Toothless. Only another Night Fury can. Or another Queen. And other Queens won’t bother you if you don’t infringe on their boundaries.”

“The Helheim dragons…” Hiccup’s gaze is far away “...they’re scared that Toothless is going to use his force-will. They can’t stop him.” 

Valka reaches over, putting her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to focus on her. He blinks at her a couple of times. “Stop, Hiccup. We both know that Toothless would never do that.”

_ “ _ **_Alpha… Alpha in pain,_ ** _ ” _ Cloudjumper says, firm.

“I know he is, Cloud,” Valka sighs.

“What?” Hiccup asks, looking between Valka and Cloudjumper. “What did he say?” 

Valka cups Hiccup’s face. “Toothless is in pain.” It looks like the world has just dropped out from under Hiccup. He sways in her hold. “He’s alone,” Valka continues, “his friends are scared of him. Have you even talked to him?” 

Hiccup’s face flushes, his mouth going tight. “I’ve been busy, if you haven’t noticed.” Valka leans back, holding her hands close to her chest, shocked at the level of anger in Hiccup’s tone. He stands up and looms over her. “I’ve been  _ busy _ rebuilding this village! I’ve barely had any time to rest, and this conversation is taking time from my responsibilities.”

Cloudjumper growls in warning and Valka waves him down. This isn’t Hiccup’s fault. Something is wrong. How could she have missed it? Her own son. 

Hiccup growls right back at Cloudjumper, unafraid. It’s so dragon-like that it stuns them both. “Take me back,  _ now,” _ Hiccup orders. “I have work to do.” 

That tone... Valka knows that Cloudjumper can’t resist. She swallows heavily, watching Cloudjumper duck down and Hiccup jump on his back. He’s off without a second thought, without complaint, leaving Valka alone on the sea stack. Cloudjumper will come back, so she has time to wonder how she’s going to talk to Hiccup about his own force-will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that was interesting! Don't forget to feed the author! 
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> See you next time!


	7. Toothless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toothless talks with everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so (...) sorry!!! it's been a busy week for me and thank you to @Allayna on twitter for reminding me about this chapter!
> 
> I hope that everyone enjoys this chapter! I hope it was worth the wait!

Toothless has had trouble adjusting to his Alpha instincts. It’s almost the same as the Queen instincts, but there is a deep connection he feels to every dragon. And it is so overwhelming. It’s not a surprise the Alpha species has always been so big; there’s too many dragons and there is the imperative to care. Not that he didn’t care before, but now he feels compelled to keep an eye on others. 

Most of his days are spent skulking around the island, checking in on his Nest as often as he can. He doesn’t like how alone he feels, even surrounded by more dragons than the most recent years spent on the Edge. The other dragons treat him with respect, lowering their heads to him, but also giving him his space. 

Toothless never considered himself to be needy, or particularly attached to anyone but Hiccup, but he misses his friends. And it aches to realize that he depended on the others so much and he can’t ask for that same care anymore. No. The Alpha must be strong... independent. 

Toothless slumps to the ground between two houses, hidden by the shadows. He goes to his belly and whines. He misses them. But he knows they’re close by: he can feel them. But he can’t… he can’t…

A mournful croon breaks from his chest, right from his heart. He can’t control the noise, and he hopes no one has heard it. It’s the sound of a dragon mourning, one who has lost someone important. No one has died, yet he’s still so alone. 

He blinks slowly and pushes himself to his feet. An Alpha does not lie around. He needs to project safety. He needs to protect all the dragons. That is the responsibility he inherited when he became Alpha. He heaves a breath and walks out from the shadows. His legs feel heavy, but he can’t stop. 

The sun is blinding and he squints against it. It’s such a nice day out, bright and clear. Perfect for flying. Another ache lances through his chest. Hiccup hasn’t given him much attention recently. Toothless is still wearing his saddle, but he’s been on the ground for weeks… months. His wings ache to expand, but he won’t ask. He’ll wait until Hiccup is ready to fly with him once more. 

He knows he deserves punishment for his horrible crime against the Haddock family. And he’s been handling it with quiet dignity, but he wishes he could fly. Maybe that would help the heaviness he feels. But Hiccup is allowed to be upset.

...Toothless wishes Hiccup would adjust the saddle though. Or  maintain it. The leather has started to dry out and it’s irritating Toothless’ scales, but he won’t say a thing. Hiccup needs his space.

He hears wings flap overhead, unable to bring himself to look, swallowing past the lump in his throat. Please… he just wants to fly again....

A large dragon lands in front of him, unsettling the dust and forcing a sneeze from Toothless. “Alpha,” he greets and Toothless watches him bow. Inside, there's a bitter mixture of pride and hatred at the action. He wants the respect, but he doesn’t want his kin to fear him. 

“Cloudjumper,” Toothless responds, nodding. At least it’s Cloudjumper. He is one of the few dragons that haven’t treated him very differently. In fact, when Cloudjumper straightens from his bow, he makes eye contact with Toothless, and Toothless’ breath hitches. He’s missed something as simple as eye contact. 

“Alpha, are you well?” Cloudjumper asks, sitting on his haunches. 

Toothless looks around the older dragon. “Where is Valka? You two are rarely apart,” Toothless responds, not wanting to give a direct answer. An Alpha is well. Always.

“I could ask the same about Hiccup,” Cloudjumper rumbles and that hurts. Toothless glares at him, but Cloudjumper is not cowed. Toothless is grateful He never thought he would miss rebellion. Just the thought of it makes him ache for Barf and Belch. 

“Can I help you with something?” Toothless asks, not wanting to deal with that at all. His personal problems are not for the others to know. He can deal with them alone. Not that there are any problems. He’s okay. 

“I came to check if you were well, and you did not answer me.” Cloudjumper relaxes a bit, appearing less large. Toothless isn’t sure how he feels about that. 

“I’m fine,” Toothless growls.”Anything else?” 

“I have questions about Berk-Nest. The others seem reluctant to answer my questions, but I see that my curiosity is not important right now.” 

“Then why would you tell me?” Toothless snaps. He’s busy. He doesn’t have time for Cloudjumper’s riddles. 

“I am merely making conversation, Alpha,” he says, tilting his head. “I thought I could offer my company.” 

Toothless’ chest constricts. He wants to say ‘YES! YES! YES! YES!’ but he has his dignity. But… company? Just company? He wants it so badly. He wants to agree, more than anything, but what he ends up saying is, “I am busy, Cloudjumper. I don’t have time to wander around.” 

He hates himself. 

Cloudjumper doesn’t seem fazed, or offended. “You are not.” 

Rage flares inside Toothless’ chest at the challenge. It’s not a Challenge, but it’s questioning his words. Any Alpha would be offended. “Are you calling me a liar?”

Toothless is glowering now, prepared to fight this dragon. He needs to learn his place. “I am saying that you are not busy, Alpha-Toothless. I have seen you alone for weeks. You must be feeling lonely.” 

Cloudjumper is not scared of him. And that’s so different that Toothless finds himself relaxing and... wanting to open up. Every fear, every problem… every worry that Toothless has had bubbles to the surface and Toothless tries to swallow it down. He cannot burden Cloudjumper with his worries. 

Cloudjumper crouches down, leaning towards Toothless and Toothless doesn’t move. “Alphas need companions, Alpha-Toothless. Most dragons believe that Alphas are solitary. This is wrong. All dragons need company. Even Queens have their favorites, as I’m sure you’re aware.”

Toothless winces at that. “I was Queen in name only. I did not control.” 

“No, you led,” Cloudjumper counters. “You protected the Berk-Nest. Hiccup-Mate has explained the Old-Queen, and he was a monster; you are not. I did not know you as a Queen, but I know you as Alpha, and I know you will act in the best interest of dragons.” 

Toothless takes a step back, shaking his head. “No. No, I failed Berk-Nest and I failed Hiccup. I need to… I need to sort through this myself… like an Alpha.” 

Cloudjumper rolls his eyes. Or tries to. Either way, the gesture is disrespectful. “Every Alpha has companions. I was a companion for Old-Alpha.” 

Toothless’ eyes widen. “What?” Before Cloudjumper can reply, Toothless is talking again. “No. No. I don’t believe you.” He starts backing away faster.

Cloudjumper doesn’t allow him to get far though. Toothless, for a moment, forgets that he’s the Alpha. Right now, he’s a regular Night Fury, overwhelmed and scared and unsure, and so, so alone. The only warning Toothless has about anything Cloudjumper is planning is a quick, “Forgive me, Alpha.”

Toothless squawks when Cloudjumper tackles him. It isn’t a Challenge, but what is this crazed Stormcutter doing?!

It takes a few minutes of wrestling and confusion and many undignified noises from Toothless before they settle and Cloudjumper is roosting on Toothless like he’s an egg. Toothless has a moment of horror because it’s humiliating for an Alpha to be reduced to such a state. Then he starts to feel safe. It doesn’t even matter that the saddle on his back has moved. Although, to be honest, it has moved to a more comfortable position.

Then Cloudjumper starts to purr,

All the posturing and bravado that Toothless felt was needed in his new role melts away under that purr. He relaxes into the ground, completely immobile, and a pained cry escapes his chest. Gods, he’s so scared. 

Then Cloudjumper starts to groom him. It’s soothing and every pain around Toothless’ heart starts to loosen. 

It takes a while, but Toothless calms down. When he does, Cloudjumper starts talking again. “Old-Alpha felt lonely, too. It’s easy to forget that Alphas are dragons, too, like the rest of us.” 

“What’d you do?” Toothless whispers. Gods, he’s tired. 

“I spoke with him often, usually when Valka was busy with the other dragons, but she joined me after a while. Soon, it was more dragons, but he always asked to speak with me.” Cloudjumper’s voice gets tight and Toothless realizes that Cloudjumper didn’t just lose a benevolent Alpha; he lost a friend. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Me, too,” Cloudjumper agrees, then nuzzles the back of Toothless’ neck. There’s a small pocket of silence that descends over them. “He liked you, and your mate. He’d be proud to know his legacy passed to you.”

Toothless whines and wiggles uncomfortably. “You can’t say things like that.” 

Cloudjumper chuckles. “I believe I just did.” 

Toothless huffs and relaxes. He doesn’t want to leave yet. 

There’s another easy silence before Cloudjumper speaks again. “I know it is not my company you crave, but you are welcome to it whenever you need it.” 

“Thank you…” Toothless whispers. He feels better, not okay, but better.

And then there’s a loud screech.

It startles the pair, but they don’t move. Well, not until Cloudjumper is knocked off Toothless’ back. Toothless jumps to his feet and tries to figure out what the Hel is going on.

Cloudjumper is backing up from an irate looking Stormfly, who’s hovering between Toothless and her target. She’s yelling, all her spikes extended and ready to throw. Meatlug comes to Toothless’ side and asks if he’s okay, if he’s been injured. Hookfang and Barf and Belch are also between Cloudjumper and Toothless, but they’re letting Stormfly do her thing. She seems to be lecturing Cloudjumper, or calling him an idiot. Toothless is trying his best to listen, but Meatlug is chattering in his ear and the confusion of everyone at once has him distracted. 

Toothless catches Stormfly yelling “–dare to harm Alpha!’ and Toothless has to stop this. He loves his friends, but if he allows this to go on, they’ll never stop.

“Stop!” Toothless yells. He doesn’t use his Alpha-Voice, but everyone falls silent like he did. Except for Cloudjumper, who appears to be chuckling. And that is only angering Stormfly. “Stop growling at him, Storm. He was just talking with me,” Toothless sighs.

“But–”

“No,” he cuts her off, then looks to Cloudjumper. “Did they hurt you?”

“Treating Alpha like a hatchling… disrespectful,” Stormfly mutters under her breath, but stands down. She doesn’t look away from Cloudjumper, but at least it will take an extra moment for her to attack if she chooses to do so. 

Cloudjumper chuckles again. “I am fine, Alpha. Do you wish me to leave?” 

“Stay,” he says and all the others, minus Meatlug, give him disbelieving looks. Gods, Toothless missed this. No matter how chaotic this group is, he adores them. And they seem to have forgotten their fear. It’s like before and Toothless missed this more than anything. And because he can’t help himself, he adds, “You may have to sit on Stormfly next.”

That earns him a deadly glare from the Nadder and a chuckle from Hookfang and Cloudjumper. This is how it’s supposed to be: easy conversation, teasing comments, and deadly glares, all in jest. Toothless missed this so much. And, for a moment, everything feels right in the world. 

Stormfly looks ruffled, angry, and she opens her mouth, and Toothless is excited to hear whatever she has come up with. But she stops herself. She looks like she remembered something and sobers entirely, diffusing any warmth that surrounded Toothless. She collects herself and faces Toothless, giving him a deep bow. The others mimic her, Meatlug even putting a bit of distance between them. No, no, no, no, no, no. This is not what Toothless wants.

Toothless’ ears press against his head. No. How did things change so quickly? He feels a whine building in his throat, but he chokes it back. Cloudjumper maneuvers around the others and approaches Toothless, offering him a  comforting nuzzle. Toothless returns it without a second thought, needing the comfort like a fish needs water. 

Toothless is almost tempted to curl under Cloudjumper’s wing, but he won’t hide. Not because he’s Alpha, but because he has his pride. It isn’t Alpha-Toothless facing the dragons right now. He’s regular Toothless. The same one that led Berk-Nest. The one that wants his friends back.

Stormfly makes a noise, but doesn’t speak. She must have seen the nuzzle, but when Toothless looks at her, her gaze is firmly on the ground. 

Barf and Belch collect themselves first. They rise, without waiting for Toothless’ recognition and it’s enough to draw everyone’s attention. They look determined as they approach the Alpha. “Toothless-friend,” they state together, firm. Toothless’ chest swells. 

They lean down to Toothless, one head on each side of Toothless’ and they give him nuzzles. Which Toothless returns happily. They pull away, too soon from Toothless’ perspective, but Barf presses their foreheads together, so they’re looking into each other’s eyes. “Always friend,” they whisper. Toothless is glad he can’t cry. He’d be blubbering by now. 

Belch replaces their sibling. “We’re sorry we forgot.” 

Toothless sniffs and nods. ‘Don’t forget it now.” 

There’s a great opportunity for those two to make a joke, but they don’t. Instead, they say “Never” at the same time, a Vow, and Toothless nuzzles them again.

Hookfang makes a noise that draws Toothless’ attention. He takes a step forward, but doesn’t offer any physical contact, he’s too proud for such things, but he does look Toothless in the eye. “Alpha…” he pauses. “Alpha-Toothless… I ask your forgiveness.” 

Toothless makes a confused noise. “Forgive you? For what?”

“For believing that you would act dishonorably and neglecting our friendship.” Hookfang is shaking a bit, but he’s not looking away.

Toothless’ eyes go wide, but he doesn’t have time to respond, Meatlug chiming in with a soft, “Me, too.”

“Why… why do you think that?” Toothless asks, unable to keep the hurt out of his voice. “I thought we were friends.” 

Hookfang looks ashamed. “That is why I ask your forgiveness, Alpha-Toothless. I have not been acting like a friend should.” 

“Why? Why are you scared?” Toothless clarifies. 

“You are the Alpha now, we must respect you,” Meatlug says.

“I am still the same Toothless,” he argues. “I have not changed.”

Hookfang and Meatlug shy away from him. Barf and Belch look uncomfortably at one another. Cloudjumper sighs, heavy. To everyone’s surprise, it’s Stormfly that speaks up. “You are not the same,” she cuts in, firm.

Everyone turns to her, but she doesn’t look up. Toothless feels anger flare inside him. “How dare you,” he growls. The others take a step back. Stormfly doesn’t look up, but she doesn’t back away like she should. “I am the same,” Toothless insists. He takes a step toward her, but she still doesn’t move. Why won’t she move?

“No, you’re not,” she responds in the same tone that Toothless is using. Meatlug whines somewhere behind Toothless, but he can’t turn away. How dare this Nadder treat him with such disrespect. How dare she say such things. He hasn’t changed. He hasn’t.

“Alpha…” Cloudjumper says calmly.

_ “Silence,” _ Toothless commands. He doesn’t want to hear whatever he has to say, Stormfly needs to explain herself first. 

Stormfly straightens and looks down at Toothless, but there is still respect in her gaze. She’s looking straight at him, that familiar flame in her eye. “You are not the same,” she repeats and pauses. Anger swells in his chest. “But none of us are the same, either. What happened, we have all changed. To believe everything is the same is naive. And I know you’re smarter than that.” 

Toothless doesn’t know if he should feel insulted or not, so he stays silent. “I am not the same Stormfly as before,” she admits, taking a deep breath. ‘I’m scared.”

Any anger Toothless was feeling evaporates, replaced by confusion. Stormfly is strong, fearless. For her to admit she’s scared means that something is wrong. “Why?” he asks, unable to think of anything else. 

“I am scared of you,” she states and it’s an arrow in Toothless’ chest. “I am scared that I will not be good enough for you. I have failed all my Queens before, including you. I am awaiting you to tell me that I am unworthy, or I will only fail you again.” Toothless realizes that he’s shaking. “You are Absolute, and I will follow you, but I am scared that my devotion is not enough, as it has failed me in the past.” 

That shocks Toothless. He’s never thought of Stormfly as a failure. Her devotion is ideal, for dragon or man. To earn it is a blessing. “You have not failed me.”

“I abandoned Berk-Nest!” she screeches, desperate. “I do not deserve your kindness!” 

Toothless gives a confused look to the others, hoping they can clear up things, but they are all staring at Stormfly with heartbroken expressions. He looks back at her and she looks destroyed, resigned. Toothless cannot continue to allow her to think so lowly of herself. “If anything, I don’t deserve your kindness,” he says, the admission hurting more than he expected it to. He looks to the ground, ashamed. “I abandoned Berk-Nest, but I was the Queen. I should have been stronger. I failed  _ you, _ not the other way around.” 

“No! You  _ saved us!” _ she protests. 

“At what cost?” Toothless whispers, pain constricting his heart. He talks before anyone can answer. “You are forgetting your worth, Stormfly. You were the first to take my side.”

“I should have followed sooner…” 

Toothless shakes his head. “Impossible.” He steps close to her and she lowers her head. He brushes his forehead to her chin. “You are one of my most trusted friends,” he whispers to her, “and I need you at my side. Never doubt your worth to me.”

Stormfly relaxes and rubs her cheeks over Toothless’ head, transferring her pheromones to Toothless’ scales. “I will always follow you, Toothless,” she whispers back. 

Toothless’ chest warms at her words. He turns to the others, who all still look a little tense. “Do you fear the same thing?” he asks. They look to one another, except for Barf and Belch, who shake their heads.

“No,” they state. 

“What do you fear?” Toothless asks. 

“Obedience.” 

Stormfly growls in warning, but Toothless doesn’t pay it any mind. There has to be something there. “Following orders?” he asks, needing clarification. He wouldn’t go so far to classify the Zippleback as “obedient,” but they generally follow orders when it comes to battle.

Belch rolls their eyes. “Following orders is not something to be feared!” Stormfly snaps at them.

“It is when you don’t have a choice!” Belch snaps back. 

“We follow you, Toothless,” Barf says, drawing Toothless’ attention. “But we’ve always been able to disobey. We can’t disobey now. We have no choice.” Hookfang and Meatlug nod in agreement. 

“You’re smart, and Hiccup-Mate is smart, but sometimes, you are dumb. Your ideas aren’t good, and we need to tell you so,” Belch adds.

“I don’t want blind obedience,” Toothless says, feeling sick to his stomach.

“But you can have it,” Belch insists.

“Cloudjumper can’t speak because you told him to be silent,” Barf points out. Toothless looks over and Cloudjumper nods, his mouth firmly shut. 

“We are at the mercy of your Voice, and you didn't even mean to use it,” Belch explains.

“I didn’t mean…” Toothless stumbles for words. How could he do that? He resisted as Queen, but he can’t control himself as Alpha? What kind of Alpha is he?! “Cloudjumper,” he’s almost whimpering, “speak if you wish. I am so sorry.” 

Cloudjumper shakes his head. “I have no ill feelings, Alpha. You are still learning.” 

“Learning?” 

“Of course,” Cloudjumper nods. “Alpha instincts are big. Hard to adjust to the smaller the dragon. And you’ve been in pain, so they haven’t settled yet.” 

Toothless thinks he understands what Cloudjumper is saying. There’s a part inside him, in the middle of his head, that he has been pushing back against, scared of what it will mean. It’s so big, so wide. Sometimes, some of it leaks through and he’s scared of it. The fear of losing his friends makes his control worse. “I will work on it,” Toothless promises. He needs to. 

He looks to Hookfang and Meatlug, who have yet to speak up. “Are you scared like Barf and Belch?”

Hookfang shrinks back and Meatlug nods for a moment, then shakes her head. “What do you mean, Meatlug?” Toothless asks, leaving Hookfang for now. He looks like he might run if put under pressure.

“The force-will,” she blurts out. “I couldn’t… I can’t… I was empty! I felt nothing!” She’s shaking. “Nothing! There was nothing inside Meatlug!” she yells, panicked. “I lost me! I can’t! I don’t” She collapses to the ground, heaving.

Toothless runs to her side, worried. She has always been excitable, but he can’t ever remember seeing her so distressed. “Shhh… shhhh,” he hushes, lying next to her. 

She calms a bit, but her breathing is still labored. “I can’t… this is my home. I can’t leave, but I’m so scared to stay. I can’t lose myself.” She looks at Toothless. “And I have failed as a friend. I know you’ve been alone, been hurting, but I can’t… I’m so scared to approach you.” Her breathing evens out. Toothless’ heart aches at her admission.

She takes a couple of deep breaths before continuing, “We might have changed, but there are parts of us that are the same.” She’s whispering. “The good parts of us stay the same, I know this, but I was too scared. Forgive me?”

“Of course,” Toothless agrees without hesitation, rubbing his cheek against hers. He looks to Hookfang. “You are forgiven, too,” he adds. “I know you asked earlier.” They have nothing to be forgiven for, but he knows that they need it.

Those words seem to snap Hookfang into motion. He looks at Toothless, fire in his eyes. “Thank you.” He pauses. “I follow you, Toothless-Alpha, but I won’t abandon my brother again.” 

“Brother?” Toothless echoes. Who could… Snotlout? Has Hookfang bonded so much with the human rider that he would call him brother? Nightmares are notoriously protective of their siblings, a long leftover instinct from hatchling-hood. Not that parent Nightmares abandon their hatchlings, but they do leave for long periods of time.

“I trust you, Alpha, like my kin have, but I will not abandon my brother again. I don’t care that I am not Queen, I will protect my brother from you, too.”

Toothless feels like maybe he should be concerned or offended by Hookfang’s words, but they calm him. He does not wish to separate anyone. “I want to protect your brother, too, Hookfang.” Hookfang snarls at him, protective edge to it. “The best way to protect him is to get you to do it. I could not anyone better for the job.” 

Hookfang relaxes and nods. “Thank you.” 

Toothless rises from his spot next to Meatlug and steps to a place where he can look at everyone without having to move his head too much. He makes sure to look at each of them. “I have heard your fears, and I promise that I will work so they never become reality, but I also wish to share my fears with you.” They all look shocked, except Cloudjumper, who looks smug. Bastard.

The dragons settle, all eyes on him, and Toothless takes a deep breath before speaking. “I’m scared, too,” he states. Something else settles in the silence, heavier than the last. “I am terrified of becoming the Alpha you all fear. I fear losing myself in these new instincts… I fear losing my friends, my family. So much has already been lost and I do not want to make it worse.

“I know I am Alpha, and Alphas are supposed to be strong, but I am still Toothless. I cannot… do this alone.” The admission almost hurts. It feels like he’s tarnishing the title of Alpha by admitting it, but he can’t stop. “I cannot learn how to be the best Alpha by myself.” He takes a shaky breath. “I need my friends, my  _ family _ , but I’m scared to be rejected when I ask.” 

“You have me,” Stormfly says without hesitation, before any more terrifying vulnerability can settle in. The rest of the group agrees in a chorus of roars. A knot of worry loosens in Toothless’ chest. He’s not alone. He’s not.

“Thank you,” he chokes out, voice thick with gratitude. The group rushes him and surrounds him, giving him licks and nuzzles, covering Toothless with their scents. Cloudjumper watches the group with a knowing smirk on his face.

Toothless is ecstatic. He can do this. Then one of them nudges the saddle and Toothless hisses in pain. They all back off, except for Meatlug who gets as close as she can to the saddle, inspecting it with wide eyes. “Are you hurting? Oh! Look at these sores!” she cries out. “Hookfang! Get this thing off!” she orders, frantic.

Hookfang leans down to do so, but Toothless jumps out of his reach. “No, don’t wreck it,” Toothless pleads, head bowed.

“It’s hurting you!” Mtealug cries. “Has it even come off at night?!”

Toothless looks down. “No… it’s been on… for a while…” He doesn’t want to admit it’s been months. “But you can’t just pull it off like one of your saddles, it’s attached to the fin.”

“Do you even  _ want _ it off?” Hookfang asks. 

Toothless glares and doesn’t respond. He doesn’t need to explain himself.

“It needs to come off,” Meatlug insists. “You’re going to bleed soon.” 

“It’s worn past your scales?” Stormfly asks in disbelief. 

Toothless whines. “I can’t take it off… what if Hiccup wants to fly? I need to be ready.” 

“Have you talked to Hiccup?” Stormfly shoots back. Toothless glares at her. She doesn’t look impressed. Or intimidated. He growls.

“You have to talk to him,” Barf and Belch insist.

Toothless whines again. He doesn’t want to do that. He can’t. He shakes his head firmly. 

“You have to talk to him!” Stormfly yells.” 

“At least to get the saddle off?” Meatlug suggests in a much calmer voice. 

“No!” Toothless yells back at Stormfly. He doesn’t have to do squat. He’s the Alpha. He can do what he wants. All it would take is a simple word and the subject would be dropped. But… that’s not the type of Alpha he wants to be. He can’t hide behind his pride now, not after he’s asked them for help. Toothless deflates. “What if he won’t talk to me?” he asks, hating that he’s putting a voice to his insecurity.

“He will,” Hookfang says, voice full of authority. Like maybe he’ll make extra sure that Hiccup does.

Toothless appreciates the sentiment. “What do I say?”

“The truth,” Cloudjumper cuts in, stepping toward him. “Let me retrieve Valka. She can remove the saddle for us. Then we can discuss how you can approach Hiccup-Mate.”

Toothless wants to argue, but the saddle does hurt, and Cloudjumper’s suggestion is the most reasonable. And the least scary of all of them so far. “Fine,” he huffs. Meatlug lets out a breath of relief. Cloudjumper nods and slinks off.

Meatlug moves close to Toothless’ side, nuzzling him under the chin, mindful of the saddle. He leans into the touch, comforted by her actions. The rest of the group appears to be more relaxed, sitting around him easier. They don’t speak. They don’t need to. Everything that has needed to be said has been said.

Then Cloudjumper returns, his rider crouched on his back. She smiles in welcome to the Alpha and starts unbuckling the saddle with care after a scratch to his chin, treating the saddle with the respect it deserves. It takes a couple of minutes and a few instructions from Toothless, who has seen Hiccup take off and put on everything more times than he can count. Valka looks enough like Hiccup, but it hurts his heart to know that it isn’t Hiccup doing this. Soon, everything is off, including his prosthetic. 

Once it’s off, he feels lighter, better. She hisses at the raw skin, gentle fingers on the outside of whatever sore she’s observing.  _ “You’ll be fine as long as you don’t irritate them. I’ll talk to Gothi for some medicine, okay? Come and find me before you go to sleep tonight. They’ll be okay if they breathe for a while,”  _ she informs in Dragon-Speak. Toothless is impressed, her accent different from any of the dragons that he’s met in his life. 

“I will,” he promises. “Thank you.” 

_ “You’re welcome,”  _ she bundles up the saddle and all its connections, the red tail fin wrapped up nicely.  _ “I’ll take this home now. See you tonight, Alpha.” _

Toothless nods. She walks off, leaving Cloudjumper behind after brushing her fingers under his chin. The gesture looks like a common thing between them if the purr Cloudjumper gives is any indication.

When Valka is gone, all the dragons sit around and talk about what’s going to happen next. The whole time, Toothless’ heart feels lighter than it has in weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so there is supposed to be at least one more chapter, but I cannot find it anywhere and only have parts of it written out by hand... so i will have to rewrite this last chapter (seriously idk where the fuck it went D:!!!) it's going to take a while to get it out because RL is getting in my way right now, for some reason August is a busy fucking month... sorry for swearing so much... I'll also send out tweets, keeping everyone updated. Please, do not hesitate to contact me over twitter if you have questions/comments about this story! Just be sure to tag me in them as well so i for sure see it <3
> 
> [ Follow me on Twitter](https://twitter.com/_Thursday_26) (username @_Thursday_26) for more real time updates or to just chat with me! <3
> 
> I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Please leave comments or Kudos, it'll keep the story in the forefront of my mind with the more engagement it has <3


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